I want more than this
by Kiki-LykaeLoverXoXo
Summary: She was lonely. It was that simple, she was completely and utterly alone. The only company she had was the hourly visit from her emotionless warden. Ulquiorra Schiffer. He insulted her friends and thought her to be trash, yet she craved his company becaus
1. The Begining of a New Life

**The Beginning of a new life**

Light from the half-moon filtered through the bared window that was the only connection to what lay outside, and was just out of reach for Orihime Inoue. She stood there day after day, hour after hour, wondering. Was everyone all right? Had she made to right choice? …Would she ever see her friends again?

Unable to stare at the window any longer without breaking into tears, Orihime turned, as she did everyday, to inspect her room— her prison. It was bleak, white, and lifeless. The only furniture was a cold, hard couch, and the bland, white bed in the far corner; everything else was cruel whitewashed stone.

She was lonely. It was that simple, she was completely and utterly alone. The only company she had was the hourly visit from her emotionless warden. Ulquiorra Schiffer. He insulted her friends and thought her to be trash, yet she craved his company because it was the only thing that told her, if only for a moment, she wasn't alone.

It shouldn't be much longer before he returned. Orihime stared at the tray of food he had brought, she had managed to eat part of the apple and most of the grapes, but she refused to eat any meat on the tray because she was afraid of what it might be.

A sigh escaped her lips. She could understand why Ulquiorra never smiled or laughed, but what she didn't understand was how he managed not to cry from the utter hopelessness and sadness that seemed to cling to this God-forsaken place.

"Have you eaten your food, human?"

Orihime's eyes snapped up to meet Ulquiorra's emerald eyes, he may be cold and even heartless at times but his eyes were always beautiful.

Orihime nodded "Yes, Ulquiorra-sama"

He removed one hand and snapped his fingers, immediately a small lower level arrancar scurried in and hastily removed the food cart, making sure to not make eye contact with Ulquiorra.

"Good, I shall return in an hour or so to check that you are in bed." Ulquiorra turned to leave.

"Wait!" Orihime took a swift step and reached for him all though he was far out of reach. She couldn't bear to be alone anymore, she needed someone or she would go insane. She was almost prepared to beg him to have mercy on her and keep her company.

Ulquiorra paused and turned his head. She looked utterly hopeless, he had known this would happen, but Aizen-sama had said she was stronger than he thought but Ulquiorra knew that his master had probably hoped that this would happen.

She was breaking down, the glint of life and defiance that been in her eyes when she had first arrived was gone. Her once warm chocolate eyes where turning to a depressing muddy brown— what a waste.

"Well?" he asked as she continued to just stand there.

"Ulquiorra-sama, I… w-was wondering… if you m-might want to… to…" Orihime stammered hopelessly.

"Your wasting my time, woman." He once again turned to the door and began to leave.

"Would you please, join me at lunch tomorrow, Ulquiorra-sama!?" The request flew out in one, loud, pleading breath.

Ulquiorra froze mid-stride. He had been expecting her to ask for freedom, or for another human to keep her company, or something along those lines, but the LAST thing he had been expecting for her to ask, was for HIS company. Him. Ulquiorra Schiffer. The Fourth Espada — He had insulted her friends, called her names, and been utterly cold to her ever since she had arrived.

He would have expected her to ask to see Grimmjow before himself… well maybe not Grimmjow… but anyone other than himself.

"I must speak to Aizen-sama, I'll be back in an hour. You had better be asleep by then… you know the consequences." Ulquiorra closed the door behind himself, without a backward glance, and headed for his masters quarters to report on the prisoner.

**...**

Ulquiorra slid one hand out of his pocket and knocked on his master's door.

"You may enter, Ulquiorra." Aizen's deep voice echoed through the solid granite throne room.

Ulquiorra wasn't the least bit surprised that Aizen had known it was him, he merely walked into the room and gave his master a low bow, "Aizen-sama, sir, I have come to give my weekly report on our prisoner."

"How many times must I say this Ulquiorra? Inoue is not a prisoner, she is more of an… underprivileged guest." Aizen had his elbow propped on an arm of his throne, and was resting his head on his fist, as if they had had this conversation many times before.

Ulquiorra bowed once more and nodded once "Hai, Aizen-sama."

Aizen shooed him with a hand impatiently, "Continue, continue."

"Hai." Ulquiorra straightened from his bow.

"Our… guest, Orihime Inoue, has became quite docile, she no longer fights our every order and eats and sleeps more often. She has eaten most of her meals except for the meat, she has gone to bed when told, and she now performs the tasks required to test her strength, without protest…" he paused wondering if should mention the most recent problem.

Aizen noticed that pause and lifted his head, "Ulquiorra, has something happened?"

"She wishes for… companionship." He finished a bit awkwardly.

"Really… and who, exactly, does she wish to be her companion?" Aizen questioned, now thoroughly interested in the conversation.

Ulquiorra looked away from his master for a split second, before he regained his composure. "She wishes for …me… to join her for lunch tomorrow."

"Then the solution is simple- you shall join her for during her lunch meal tomorrow." He paused " In fact you, you are to join her at every meal possible. I think it is time that she had a friend in her new home. I want you to get to know her and make her WANT to help us… and maybe after a time you could get her to forget about her past and truly become one of us. Do you understand my child?" (Aizen calls him his child because he made Ulquiorra an arrancar.)

Ulquiorra expression stayed completely blank, "Hai."

He had seen this coming but he had hoped that it wouldn't happen- it wasn't just the fact that she was human; in fact she was the only human he DIDN'T utterly hate. And no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't be COMPLETELY disgusted by her. But just because he didn't hate her, didn't mean that he wanted to spend an entire lunch with her—she was still a lowly human- and humans + Ulquiorra = a VERY bad day.

And on top of all that Ulquiorra wasn't he would call a people-person—he wasn't even a person if you wanted to get technical about it. And he just knew that Orihime would want to talk and that was just one more thing on the long list of "Things Ulquiorra can't and Refuses to even try to do."

"Now is that all?" Aizen once again resumed his bored expression, and leaned back in his stone throne.

"Hai." Ulquiorra paused for a moment and an eerie silenced descended, but he ended it quickly. "I request to be excused so that I may check on the human and return to my quarters for rest."

"Off with you my son, we shall speak after you have gathered more information." Aizen shooed him away impatiently with one hand.

With one last bow Ulquiorra left the room.

When the door closed a man, with lavender hair that fell to his always-closed eyes, stepped out of the shadow behind Aizen's throne. His ever-present smile was happier than usual.

"Hello Gin, what brings you here?"

"Do you think it will work, Aizen-san?" Gin Ichimaru asked excitedly.

Aizen smirked " When have I ever been wrong my friend?"

Their soft, evil laughs echoed through the room as they laughed at something only they understood.

"Give it time old friend, just give it time…"

**...**

The door to Orihime's room silently opened, and a tall, slim, dark figure stepped into her room. Ulquiorra silently walked over to her bed to check that she was asleep, but she wasn't there. He turned to find her on the ivory couch, curled up in a ball, and asleep.

Her eyes were red and swollen from tears, and where her head lay on the white pillow was damp from crying herself to sleep. Her hands were curled into fists and pressed against her chest as if her heart had been in pain, and her legs were curled up in the fetal position.

The scene before Ulquiorra piqued his curiosity. Human emotions had never made much sense to him, and this girl was no different

(If anything her emotions were even more confusing)

The Espada gathered the sleeping girl into his arms and carried her to the bed. He then pulled the pure white quilt up to her chin and took a step back. Ulquiorra stared for a moment longer then left, without a word, and returned to his room for rest.


	2. I Want To Know You, If Only in My Dreams

**I Want to Know You**

**(If Only in my Dreams)**

After crying herself to sleep, Orihime found herself drifting through a sea of dreams. She was tired of sadness, she was tired of being weak, but most of all, she was tired of having no one to return her love—she was tired of being alone.

Orihime wanted to dream of a place where she could be happy, and loved. Of a place where there were no wars, or good vs. evil, she wanted to dream of a small cottage, on a hill top, in the middle nowhere, with a beautiful garden in front and a small stream that ran through spacious back yard, with a blue sky and shining sun, with white, fluffy clouds floating on a light, summer breeze, creating shadows on the flower-covered meadow that surrounded it all.

Orihime opened her eyes and saw it all. She walked up the cobble-stoned path that led to the cottage. A small breeze carried the scent of flowers to her nose, and the sound of a child's laughter to her ears.

Driven by some unseen force she slowly walked around the cottage, to the back yard. As she did so, the dream world suddenly turned to slow motion and all sound was silenced- like a fog had fallen over her new world, smothering it before it could reach her ears.

Orihime saw a tall, lean man standing with his back to her. He was dressed in blue jeans, and a tight-fitting, white t-shirt under a long-sleeved, denim jacket. His pitch-black hair fell, slightly, past his shoulders as it swayed in a breeze she no-longer felt.

A single sound echoed through her perfect world…

It was the sound of a young child's laughter as she shouted, "Daddy!" and ran around the corner across from Orihime, toward the man.

The child couldn't have been older than 4yrs old and had on a cute, puffy, white, summer dress with a bow around the waist, and her ebony, waist-length hair fluttered behind her, like a black flag, as she ran. Orihime saw something shine in the sunlight, from the girl's hair. As she looked closer she saw that they were two, small berets that were each shaped like a miniature star that rested on a half-moon.

The man's deep laughter joined hers as he pulled his hands out of his pockets, knelt and caught the girl in his arms. He lifted her above his head and spun them in a circle, the little girl squealed in delight, "Faster, daddy, faster!"

Her father swung them around one more time, then he stopped and stood still, the little girl wrapped her arms around her father's neck and squeezed. He held her closely, and then as their laughter faded, from the soundless world, he whispered her name with so much love and emotion that Orihime was tempted to cry.

"Ivory…"

"Ivory…" Orihime repeated the name in a whisper.

The little girl's eyes opened, at the sound of her name, and their gazes looked.

Looking into those eyes was like being struck by lighting. Orihime was so surprised that she gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. She knew those chocolate-brown eyes; she saw them every time she looked in a mirror. They were her eyes, and Orihime noticed that they were happier and brighter than they had been in a long time.

Ivory's face lit up with joy, "Mama!" she squealed, as her arms reached out to Orihime.

Tears of joy filled Orihime's eyes and she took a step toward them—

Suddenly everything began moving normally again and all the joy that had been on Ivory's face became a mask of terror and she began to point franticly at something behind Orihime.

Ivory's blood-curdling scream broke the silence, and all at once, sound came rushing back. The demonic, gurgling, sound of a thousand hollows, screaming with rage and hunger came from behind her, she began to turn and was shocked at the intense pain that came from her side. Ivory screamed again "MAMA!!!".

Orihime looked down at her side in horror, to find a hollow's hand protruding from her stomach. She heard the beast's evil laughter behind her and felt his breath against her skin.

The sound of a massive explosion rang through he air, and was followed by the familiar sound of a sword leaving it's scabbard, Orihime felt a gentle had wrap around her shoulders, then she heard the sound of a sword cutting flesh, followed by a great beast in pain and suddenly the arm in her stomach was no longer there.

Orihime's vision was fading although she desperately tried to focus—everything went black. The dark haired man was kneeling with her in his arms and Ivory was yanking at her sleeve urgently. They were pleading her name, begging her to open her eyes, commanding that she not die.

His voice was so familiar and yet so strange. She knew it, and yet she had never heard it before. Who was he?

"Orihime, my love, you must open your eyes! We need you! Please don't die---" He was abruptly cut off mid sentence. He gasped Orihime's name in pain and she felt a warm liquid stain her clothes, then he slumped over her. He feebly grabbed Ivory's arm, locking his eyes with his daughters for the last time, and spoke his final words in an agonized voice, "Run!"

Ivory's shattered cry would always haunt Orihime, as her daughter lost both her parents in only seconds…

Voices from her past swirled around her in a vortex of sorrow as she was yanked from, what used to be, her perfect world. What had gone wrong? What twisted thing had turned her dream world into a nightmare? Then out of the darkness Orihime heard a voice shouting her name.

"Orihime Inoue, You Are To Awaken NOW!"

Suddenly Orihime found herself once again in her white room in Hueco Mundo. Her twisted dream world was finally dead and gone.

Ulquiorra was standing next to her bed, his hands gripped her shoulders and he was shaking her like a rag doll- a hint of worry glinted in his eyes.

Her tear-filled, brown, eyes locked with his stone, cold stare. Only this time his eyes held a hint of emotion. He immediately stopped shaking her so hard but retained his hold on her shoulders in case she collapsed.

"Ulquiorra? What did you just say?" Orihime asked shakily. What had he just called her? Orihime? No, he couldn't have, he never called her by her name.

He slowly released her shoulders and placed his hands back in his pockets, then stepped back from her bed, and turned toward a table that held a large array of food that hadn't been there the day before. There were two chairs sitting across the table from each other.

"Does it really matter? A name is a name- nothing more." He stopped when he reached the table and turned his head back toward her, "Come eat, you seemed quite tired when I came this morning so I let you sleep in, and took the liberty of having a dining table brought in while you did so.

Orihime sat up and looked down at herself.

"I know it didn't change into my pajama's last night." She looked at Ulquiorra nervously. Had he changed her clothes last night?

"I checked in on you last night to find you asleep on the couch, so I moved you to your bed and sent in a servant to change you. It doesn't matter, now come eat." He answered her impatiently and then sat down in one of the unoccupied chairs

"You're staying?" Orihime's heart leapt hopefully as she walked to the table and sat across from him. He's staying!!

"You requested that I join you for lunch yesterday, did you not?"


	3. I'm Here For You

**I'm here for you**

"Yes, you're right I did. But the way you left yesterday I figured you had said no." When he didn't say anything she began to fill her plate with apples, grapes, oranges, bread, and anything else that wasn't meat.

"Aren't you going to eat?" she asked when he didn't grab any food.

Ulquiorra reached into the pile of food and grabbed an apple and took a bite.

They were silent for a while; the only sound was the crunching of apples. When they finished Ulquiorra stared at the tray of remaining food questioningly. "Why do you not eat any meat? Is it distasteful?" he grabbed a piece of what looked like ham and popped it into his mouth. "I do not understand, what is wrong with it?"

Orihime wrung her hands (a habit she had started when she had arrived at Los Noches). What should she say? She couldn't tell the truth— I don't eat it because I think it might be hollow meat, or worse- human.

"I don't like meat very much. I prefer fruit and… sweet things." She answered brightly.

And it wasn't a lie; Orihime did like fruit and sweets better.

"I see." He answered.

Without looking away from her face Ulquiorra slipped one slender hand out of his pocket and snapped his fingers once.

Almost immediately a young purple haired arrancar, servant girl wearing a revealing white skirt with black along the edges, and a matching, low cut, v-necked, long-sleeved shirt, hurried in. She quickly walked over to Ulquiorra, while blushing bright pink, and curtsied— showing off an abundant amount of cleavage.

"You called Ulquiorra-sama?" she fawningly.

"Take the food and leave." He commanded. His gaze once again never left Orihime's face, which earned Orihime a glare that could almost kill, from the servant girl.

"So, Inoue, what would you like to have for lunch tomorrow? I will bring fruit and see what I can find that is sweet but would you like anything else?" he asked as he leaned back lazily in his chair, completely ignoring the lesser arrancar.

"P-please Ulquiorra, call me Orihime. And I really don't mind what you bring… but it would be much appreciated if you cold find something chocolate. Or maybe ice cream?" she asked tentatively.

"I will make a trip to earth myself if I must, Orihime. Is that all you ask?"

The girl almost dropped the apple cores she had been stacking on a tray, in surprise, and quickly apologized in a whisper. Then she once again sent a venomous glare toward Orihime.

Orihime didn't know what had caused his change in attitude, but she would take what she could get.

"Will you be staying with me tomorrow to? I'd really enjoy your company, if you do." Her face blushed. Why did she say that?! 'He probably thinks I'm insane—or have a crush on him! Bad, Orihime, Bad! Now he'll never come!' she scolded herself mentally

"There's no need to ask, Orihime. I had planned on coming anyway." Ulquiorra said. He hadn't thought it was possible, but he was actually beginning to enjoy her company, she was VERY interesting to be around. He actually couldn't wait to come back tomorrow.

The servant girl heard his reply and dropped a half-eaten tray of fruit. As her hand clenched into fists and flames of hate flickered in her eyes.

"Ulquiorra how could you even talk to such trash, let alone spend time with her willingly! Your so much better that her! She is trash!" the girl spun around to face Orihime, "And YOU! How dare you speak to Ulquiorra as if you have a right to him! You are a dirty, human, worthless—piece—of—trash! You should be groveling at his feet not— ugh!"

A hand suddenly grasped purple hair and threw her across the room, creating a small crater in the wall. And an ice cold voice of death echoed through the room.

"You just sentenced your self to death with those words."

He picked the girl up off the ground by her hair and grabbed her by the throat, slamming her head hard against the wall. She gasped a scream and clutched at his hand that was slowly cutting off her air supply.

Suddenly arms wrapped around Ulquiorra from behind.

"P-Please don't k-kill her Ulquiorra! She d-doesn't deserve to die just because she doesn't like me!"

Orihime pleaded for the girl's life, tears streaming down her face in rivers because of the hurtful words that the girl had spoke and the violence that seemed to follow her everywhere… even to her perfect world.

"p-please… for me Ulquiorra…" Her hands clutched at his shirt as she whispered it, her words muffled because she had her face pressed against his back.

Ulquiorra stared at Orihime's hidden face, entranced for the first time in his life. He hesitated for a moment before his grip on the girl's neck slackened, she dropped to the floor, and scrambled out of the room, scattering trays of food everywhere along the way.

Ulquiorra turned Orihime in his arms so that he could see the top of her head without having to look over his shoulder. Not knowing what else to do, he awkwardly placed one hand on her shoulder, while the other stroked her hair as she cried.

They stood like that for what seemed like hours, but was actually no more than ten minutes. Finally her crying subsided, but she couldn't quite make herself let him go, so she simply held on to him as he stroked her hair calmly. If he got tired of holding her he would tell her, until then she had no plans of letting him go.

Ulquiorra wanted to do something for her, although he hid it well, he hated to see her cry—he hated to see anyone cry. There were only two emotions that caused him pain. They were his only weaknesses and if anyone knew it would be the end of him—the first was genuine sadness. And the second … was love…

"Orihime…?"he stopped stroking her hair and waited until she looked up into his eyes. _Where had this compassion come from?_ --They both wondered.

"I'm sorry, Ulquiorra, I didn't mean to—" The rest of her apology was lost as his hand covered her mouth.

"Orihime, do you feel up to a short walk? There is a place I would very much like to show you." when he finished his hand slid from her mouth and rested on her neck, he unknowingly slid his thumb back and forth across her neck and jaw line.

She nodded slowly unable to speak.

Ulquiorra released her immediately, his face once again showing no emotion. He turned on his heel and walked to the door, the white flaps of his Espada uniform billowing behind him.

Orihime hurried to catch up with him as he opened the doors. He stopped abruptly causing her squeak in surprise and bump into his back.

Without sparing her backward glance he told her to wait where she was, then opened the doors and leaned partway out the door, looking in both directions. Seeing no one he walked the rest of the way out the door, "It's clear. Keep up, and if it's possible, try to keep quiet."


	4. Caught in The Act

**Caught in the act**

Orihime quickened her pace to keep up with the Espada.

'_I think I'm going to get whip-lash from Ulquiorra's mood swings! One second he's cold and unfeeling the next he's defending me, and holding me, and now he's cold again! I don't get this… oh well, he's the only friend I've got right now—the only other options I have are the pervert Noitora, or Grimmjow the… well, Grimmjow—and I wouldn't want to meet ether of them in a dark ally, for two TOTALLY different reasons—_

Her thoughts were cut short as Orihime, once again, bumped right into Ulquiorra's back. She hastily took a step backward but slipped and would have face-planted into the granite floor if Ulquiorra hadn't caught her by wrapping a slender, (but solidly muscled) arm around her waist.

"Ulqui--"

He silenced her quickly by placing a finger over her mouth. He nodded his head toward two enormous doors behind him, and then whispered. "-go."

Once Ulquiorra had released her from his arms she hurried over to the doors and slid through the small opening between them, and waited for him to follow. Ulquiorra checked that no one had seen them, then followed Orihime and closed the door quietly behind them.

He turned to find his her staring at him intently. It was as if he was some complex puzzle that would put itself together if she stared at him hard enough.

"What?" He was intrigued by her behavior. Nothing she did made sense! Ulquiorra didn't even think Orihime knew where she was, if she did know she probably would have ran screaming into the night by now.

Orihime finally blinked a couple of times.

"Oh, sorry was I staring? I was thinking and… I guess I got distracted." She smiled up at him and giggled a little.

When she didn't say anything else he shifted his weight to his other foot in discomfort, and avoided her gaze. (she had begun to stare again)

"Well…?"

"What is it Ulquiorra?" she asked as she snapped out her trance.

"Are you not at all pleased by where I have brought you?" he stared directly into her eyes searching for an answer.

"What do you m—" she broke off mid-sentence as she with looked in awe, at her surroundings for the first time.

…They were outside…

Snow floated down from the sky, why hadn't she noticed it before? Hueco Mundo was a beautiful but desolate place. It had endless dunes of snow-covered-sand, and trees made of crystal were scattered everywhere. When she looked to the sky she found that the only thing present was the crescent moon that had forever haunted the window in her room.

Only now that she was outside and had full view of her new world, she no longer hated it or thought it to be ugly. Actually she found it to be quite the opposite.

She saw a flash of black and white to her right as Ulquiorra suddenly flopped down in the snow beside her. He sat with his legs out and was supporting himself by placing his palms in the snow and locking his elbows.

After a brief moment of thought Orihime sat down next to him.

"Ulquiorra, why have you brought me here? Won't Aizen be mad?"

He was silent for a moment then his gaze met hers.

"Why would Aizen-sama be mad? As long as you behave and give him no reason to be, then we'll be fine. As for the reason I have brought you here…"

He paused for a moment wonder how to explain something her didn't even understand.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but you've been depressed lately. And I had figured that your spirits would lighten if you came here for a brief time." His gaze left hers as he looked, longingly, upon the moon with his Emerald eyes.

"I come here when I feel that I'm at my breaking point-- it calms me… and I had hoped it would do the same for you…"

Silenced passed between them for a long moment, then suddenly his eyes were boring into hers.

"Woman, if you tell _anyone_ what I have revealed to you I shall punish you severely. Do not underestimate me woman, if you so much as whisper about this in another's presence I'll—"

Orihime had placed one finger over his lips and Ulquiorra felt warmth enveloped his hand as Orihime placed her other hand over top of his.

Her brown eyes were no longer muddy, and sad! They were warm with laughter and happiness as she looked into his eyes and for some reason unknown to him; Ulquiorra felt the need to make sure that they stayed that way till the end of her days.

"I promise, Ulquiorra, I will never tell anyone about this, no matter what they do or say." Her hand squeezed his and warmth shot through him as she laughed, "Besides, if I did tell someone, I'd never get to come here with you again!"

The drastic change in her mood was astonishing. She had gone from being a pathetic mess on the floor, to laughing, smiling and being all happy-peppy-ish. Ulquiorra's curiosity was growing each minute he spent with her.

They stared into each other's eyes for what seemed like a lifetime. Compelled by something she couldn't name, Orihime slowly began to close the distance between them.

She rolled onto her side so that she was facing him and placed her left hand next to his hip, while her other hand continued to hold his.

Their faces were mere inches apart now, but Ulquiorra didn't pull away. He could feel her warm breath on his face and he desperately wanted to close the small gap separating them.

Orihime's heart thudded at an alarming rate as she felt his lips brush against hers. She leaned farther into him in order to deepen their kiss--

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?!" Shouted a harsh voice filled with laughter.

Ulquiorra and Orihime flew apart from each other faster then should have been possible, to find that Grimmjaw Jaggerjack had caught them.

"Looks like you and Noitora aren't so different after all, eh Ulquiorra?!" he laughed evilly. "I mean Damn, Ulquiorra! You could have at least done it in your room, at least no one would see you there!" he paused then his face contorted into a mask of nausea and surprise as he realized something.

"Ah-HA!" he shouted as he pointed a finger at Ulquiorra dramatically. "ULQUIORRA, YOU SICK BASTARD! You _like_ people to watch don't you! You're such a hypocrite! Your always calling Noitora perverted trash when, deeeeeep inside, your just as twisted as he is!"

Ulquiorra caught Grimmjaw by the front of his shirt and hoisted him in to the air. And the look of hate he directed at Grimmjaw was so strong Orihime was surprised he didn't melt on the spot.

"You know nothing about me Grimmjaw, so do not presume that you do. You saw _nothing_ here do you understand, and that is an order! If you so much as _think_ of this in another's presence then I shall dispose of you myself, in the most painful way possible—and _that_ is a promise."

Grimmjaw stared at Ulquiorra in surprise.

"Damn Ulquiorra, put me down! You don't have to freak out on me! I was just messin with you! JEEZ-US!"

Ulquiorra stared at him a moment longer then dropped him in the snow. He snapped his fingers impatiently—

"Come woman, we have stayed here to long." The he proceeded through the door without a backward glance.

Orihime cast one last longing glance toward the moon and crystal tree, then she ran passed Grimmjaw to catch up with Ulquiorra.


	5. Christams Laughter

**Disclaimer-**** I do not own Bleach or any of their characters.**

**(PS This disclaimer is meant for all of my chapters so I don't have to keep writin it.)**

**Christmas Laughter**

The next few days passed without incidence. They never spoke of what happened under the moon that night. When ever Orihime tried to bring it up he would deflect her questions as if the had never been spoken, and distract her with questions of his own.

Ulquiorra continued to eat lunch with Orihime. She began to notice that he lingered in her room longer and longer after they had finished their food. She wanted to point it out but she was afraid he would stop lingering, and she had grown to enjoy his company just as much as she had her old friends, although he spent most of his time laying on the couch reading a book that was almost as thick as a tree trunk, he would answer her questions when she asked them and he even asked a few of his own, every now and then. But he never took her outside of the Hueco Mundo again…

A month or two had passed since that night, and things had changed since then. It was December now and Christmas was approaching. Once a week Orihime was invited to dine with Aizen. She couldn't refuse, of course, because they would most likely just force her to go anyway. And she knew that if she did refuse, Ulquiorra would most likely refuse to speak to her. He would stop keeping her company and he would no longer join her for breakfast or supper—only lunch, because that was all that was required of him.

Ulquiorra was all she really thought about anymore. Orihime didn't even realize that he was always on her mind. It had never crossed her mind that she thought of him as often she had ichigo… not until today.

She had just returned from her weekly lunch with Aizen, and she felt disturbed. Every other time she had gone to eat with him, he had always been careful to stay off the topic of her friends, but today had been different. He had ask unceasing questions about them.Questions that ate away at her until she was so freaked out that she wanted to rip her air out.

'_How have you been lately Orihime? Do you miss your friends still? What do you miss most about them? Do you wish for a human companion? Tell me about your days on earth. What are your fondest memories of them? What do you do all day, is there anything I could get you to make your new home more comfortable?_

…_.How are you and Ulquiorra getting along?…_

Friends… of the few memories she had retained of them, months ago, only a few survived. She could see their faces and remember their personalities but their voices were no longer familiar to her. She accepted the fact that it was her fate to live in Hueco Mundo for the rest of her days. And to tell the truth, it no longer seemed like such a horrible fate. In fact if she were to be ENTIRELY honest, she couldn't find it in herself to _want_ to leave. It was her home, and now she considered Ulquiorra and even Grimmjaw to be her new friends—despite the knowing look Grimmjaw gave her every time he spotted her and Ulquiorra walking together in the halls.

"Is something wrong, Ori—Woman?" Ulquiorra's voice shook her from her thoughts.

He was laying on the couch across the room, his large laying open on his chest. Orihime realized that she had been sitting on her bed frowning, and biting her lip in frustration, while looking down at her hands. But what had **really** caught his attention was the fact that she was being uncommonly still, and quiet.

A small blush colored her cheeks as she smiled and giggled nervously.

"OH, I'm fine Ulquiorra! I was just thinking really, **really** hard about something important!" she scratched the back of her head and looked at her feet, embarrassed. _What did it look like was doing?_

She heard him mutter something along the lines of—"Don't hurt yourself."—or—"Don't have a hernia over it." As he lifted his book and returned to reading.

Over the last month Orihime had noticed that Ulquiorra had suddenly grown a sense of humor_._

_He doesn't laugh __**of course,**__ I mean, he might __**actually**__ have fun if he laughed! —and we could have that happen, now could we? Everyone should frown and glare ALL the time because if Ulquiorra does it and you don't then your AUTOMATICALLY stupid!_ Thought Orihime bitterly. _Ok maybe I'm over reacting just a bit… ok maybe A LOT. But did he have to be SO GOOD at burning her? … Although she did set herself up for most of them…_ Orihime sighed. _Oh well…___

A thought suddenly occurred to Orihime.

"Ulquiorra do you or anyone else here celebrate Christmas?"

His eyes flickered to her face nervously then returned to his book.

"No…" He said hesitantly._ The only one who celebrates Christmas is Noitora. _Ulquiorra thought to himself _And his idea of 'celebrating' involves inviting Grimmjaw, Stark, Yammi, Aaroniero, Zommari and even me, although I never go, and then inviting ALL the female Arrancar and trying to get laid. There was _**no**_ way he was letting Orihime anywhere near there._

Orihime noticed how he glanced at her nervously and the way he had answered as if he wasn't telling her everything. She stood and marched up to the couch, and put her hands on her hips for dramatic effect.

"Are you _lying_ to me, _Ulquiorra Schiffer?"_ She was barely able to say it without bursting into laughter.

Very slowly he closed his book, placed it on the floor, and stood up to his full height so that he towered over her.

Almost faster than her eyes could follow he shifted his weight to one foot, put his hands on his hips. Then he slowly looked her up and down criticizingly.

"And what if I am, _Orihime Inoue?_" He said it in his best imitation of her voice.

Everything was silent for about three seconds before Orihime suddenly doubled over in hysterical laughter. She fell on the ground and rolled on her side. She clutched her stomach in pain, and was gasping from not being able to catch her breath. She continued this almost—psychopathic laughter until her eyes began to water, then Ulquiorra began to worry.

What was wrong with her? All he had done was attempt to make her laugh so she would stop asking about Christmas. And now she was rolling around on the ground like a crazy person on drugs! Should he do something? Does she need medical help? She definitely needed psychological help that was for sure…

The laughter went on for at least ten minutes before she finally began to calm down. She lay there in silence trying to regain her breath, occasionally a giggle would escape her lips, although she desperately tried to hold them in.

Ulquiorra was standing over her chewing on the inside if his cheek worrying that he had just mentally damaged his prisoner beyond repair. If she didn't return to normal Aizen was going to kill him!

Orihime's eyes fluttered open and she stared at him for a long moment.

"You didn't answer my question." She said with a smirk on her face.

**WOOHOO! Its December people! **

**YAY! Christmas is coming! Which means lots and lots of trees, lights, presents, pies, cakes, old people, and my personal favorite—SHINY THINGS! lol**

**I hope you guys liked this chapter. I know its kind of insane but I just had to write one bubbly-bubbly chapter! if you liked it then tell me and maybe I'll make more this way but unless you do then I'm gonna keep it normal.**

**!!!~Happy Holidays Everyone~!!!**

—**MiMi—CarpathianAngel ******


	6. Death

**Ok I don't mean to be pushy or anything but…**

**CAN YOU PLEASE REVIEW ALREADY!!!!!!!!**

**Thank you for listening**

**Enjoy**

**...Death...**

Ulquiorra turned away from Orihime, who was still on the floor from her laugh attack, to look out the bared window that revealed a lonesome crescent.

"Yes I did lie to you. Yes someone in Hueco Mundo does 'celebrate' Christmas, if that's what you want to call it. Do you want to know who it is?"

Orihime stood up and brushed off her dress then nodded quickly.

"Yes, please!" she chirped happily.

He turned back to her and looked her blankly in the eyes.

"Noitora." One word was all he said and yet it explained everything.

Orihime's smiled disappeared and a shiver ran down her spine.

"O-Ohhhhh…" was all she could manage.

The silence was interrupted as the shriek of a furious jungle cat echoed throughout the halls. Ulquiorra spun around faster than the human eye could follow, and stalked out the door.

"Stay. Here." Slashing emerald clashed with chocolate-brown as his eyes met hers. It wasn't a request it was an order and it was enforced as the door closed and automatically locked with a resounding click.

The dining hall…

Grimmjaw lunged, roaring at Noitora in his hollow form; his claws were flashing a brilliant red as he tried to get at the other Espada. Noitora moved out of the way at the last possible second and tried to deliver his own blow to Grimmjaw's back as flew through the air were he had just been.

The sixth Espada was to fast for him and Noitora missed as the jaguar-hollow disappeared in a flash of blue and reappeared directly behind him. Grimmjaw's evil laughter rang in his ears as five claws protruded from the right side of his stomach.

Grimmjaw's ripped his claws from Noitora then flung him across the room, causing him to crash into the hallway. He was going to rip Noitora apart for the things he had said! And he was going to enjoy it!

Grimmjaw flashed into the hallway and picked Noitora up by the throat, slamming him against the wall. He lifted his other arm and gathered a cero blast in his fist. He was about to blast Noitora away when he heard a maniacal laughter coming from his prey, as it lifted it's head.

Noitora stared Grimmjaw in the eye as he laughed. _The Beast actually thinks he can beat ME! HA, as if a weakling like him could ever hope to succeed! It seems that I need to teach him a lesson… permanently._

Grimmjaw heard the ring of steel leaving its scabbard then, a searing pain blossomed from his stomach to his shoulder. Streaks of crimson splattered on the floor and stained Noitora's uniform.

Noitora cackled hideously as Grimmjaw reverted back to his Arrancar form and fell to his knees, coughing up blood.

Grimmjaw glimpsed a tall lean figure standing in the hall before everything went black and he collapsed on the floor.

Noitora felt adrenaline course through his veins as Grimmjaw fell. And his black heart leapt with joy as Ulquiorra came down the hall. Without warning he leapt at the fourth Espada and slashed at him with his zanpakto.

Ulquiorra deflected the blow easily by raising an arm and catching the blade.

"Noitora you have finally over stepped your bounds, and now I will get to do what I have wanted to do ever since I met you."

Suddenly Noitora was flung back by a massive amount of spiritual pressure. He flung his hand up in front of his face in an attempt to stop the emerald and black streaks of power from cutting his him to pieces. He felt like the weight of the world was pressing down his shoulders as Ulquiorra increased his power, and he was driven to his knees.

The whites of Ulquiorra's eyes turned black as he slowly drew his sword pointed it toward his enemy. He stood before Noitora, there was black and emerald light flowing from him and the number four that was tattooed on left shoulder glowed a brilliant red. His Espada uniform was whipping around him violently under the pressure of his rietsu, making him seem like an indestructible, Gothic Angel of Death.

Noitora screamed in rage and defeat as he struggled to flew from the emerald demon before him, but he didn't make it more than an inch before he was pined to the floor by a sword through his shoulder.

Noitora's soon-to-be-slayer was bent over him, his face completely expressionless. He lifted a single finger and placed it on Noitora's forehead. Ulquiorra focused energy on the tip of the finger and it immediately began to glow a brilliant green.

Noitora stared helplessly at the glowing finger that was going to be his demise.

Ulquiorra twisted the sword that was pinning Noitora to the floor causing him to cry in pain.

"I believe this is the end for you, Noitora."

But as he was about to unleash his cero blast he heard a voice sobbing his name loudly.

"ULQUIORRA!! STOP! PLEASE DON'T I—" the cry was abruptly cut off.

The Great Ulquiorra Schiffer's heart ceased to beat when he turned to find the

Lavender-haired and ever-smiling Gin Ichimaru with his sword to Orihime's throat….

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well that's the end of this chapter, and it's like the BIGGEST cliff-hanger in all of exsitance right?!

If you want me to update soon u had better review because I haven't got any reviews yet and it's making me think that I shouldn't even bother with this fanfic. So prove me wrong If you want me to keep going!

**(PS—you don't need an account to review, so you have no excuse!!)**

**--MiMi**


	7. BUMBumbummmmm!

Before I start I would like to say Thanks soooooooooo much to the people who reviewed. It really made me happy and made me want to keep this going! I live off reviews!

Disclaimer—I don't own bleach or any of their characters

_(If I did I wouldn't be writing this, I'd be writing bleach)lol_

!!!!!ATTENTION!!!!!

I have recently been grounded from the computer for the next six months so if I update a bit slower than usual that's why. I'm risking my social-life to write this so please give me a break if my grammar and spelling aren't perfect!

And if anyone knows how to spell Hyougouko or what ever you call it PLEASE tell me!( and yes I did make a reference from spongebob, I just can't see Orihime swearing, so I improvised)lol

And yes i know the tile SUCKS. give me a break!

—MiMi

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**BUM-Bum-bummmmmm!**

"Ulquiorra I think it would be wise to remove your sword from Noitora." An evil look crossed his face as he pressed the blade of his sword harder against his hostage's throat. "Or something very _unfortunate _might befall your precious Orihime."

Ulquiorra yanked his sword free of Noitora's shoulder, but not before he gave it one more violent twist, then he took a step toward Aizen's second in command.

He came to an abrupt halt when Gin pressed his blade harder and drew a thin line of blood across Orihime's throat, causing a whimper to escape her lips.

"Release her Ichimaru. She has done nothing to merit your punishment." The Espada said, barely able to keep the rage from his voice.

Ulquiorra took a step back and was clenching the hilt of his sword with a death grip.

"That's where your wrong, Ulquiorra. You have brought this upon her yourself." He paused to let the fourth Espada soak the information in. "When you decided to take judgment into your own hands and attempt to kill poor Noitora, you made me use your only weakness against you."

"I have no weaknesses Ichimaru. And Noitora openly attacked me, I was merely punishing him." Ulquiorra glared at the former captain, daring him to contradict his statement. _I DO NOT have weaknesses, only trash have weaknesses._ He tried to convince himself. _The only reason I am concerned is because it is my duty to protect the woman._

Gin smiled as he wrapped an arm around Orihime's waist and pulled her up against him._ So he thinks he has no weaknesses, eh?_ He pressed his face to her neck and caught a trickle of blood with his tongue, and then he gave Ulquiorra a sly look.

"Wouldn't _you_ just looooove to know how she tastes, Ulquiorra? I think they have a saying for it in the material world: 'The Forbidden Fruit always tastes the sweetest'. "

The room's temperature dropped so fast that frost crept up the walls. The floor beneath Ulquiorra's feet splintered under the sudden increase in spiritual pressure, and ebony flames of rietsu burst from the cracks. Hate seeped from every pore in Ulquiorra's body, although if you tried to judge his reaction purely on his expression you'd think that it hadn't effected him at all.

"Well, well, well. It looks like _Someone_ has a crush you, my dear Orihime." Gin laughed evilly.

The blade against Orihime's neck felt like it was on fire and burning a hole through her throat. What had she gotten herself into? She had just been trying to help, and look what happened!

Flash back to when Ulquiorra had left her in her room…

The door closed and the click of locks echoed through the white room. Orihime stood facing the door her hands clasped together and held against her chest. _What was that?!_

Orihime ran to the door and pressed her ear against it. Ulquiorra was already gone. _What should I do?_ She thought anxiously. _He said to stay but what if someone gets hurt and they need me to heal them? Wait… why would I want to help__ them?__ They're my enemies… sort of._ Orihime left the door and retreated to her bed. Then she sat down she looked at the tiny mirror on her small nightstand and concentrated on sensing what was outside her door.

She could sense the reitsu of Grimmjaw and one that might have been Noitora. It took her a moment to find Ulquiorra's because he was suppressing it so well. The first to seemed to be fighting for some reason. Grimmjaw was in his hollow form while Noitora was using all the strength he had _except_ for his hollow form._ What was it that Ulquiorra said about the Arrancar hollow forms? Oh yeah, I remember now! _

"_An Arrancar's Hollow form should always be their last resort. Because when they change back to that form they must go against what the Hyougouko has do to change them and they must embrace their past while at the same time holding the Hyougouko's power. Each time an Arrancar changes back to his hollow self he loses a small portion of what make them an Arrancar. It becomes harder and harder to change back until it becomes altogether impossible to do so. Only the most powerful and skilled of us can change to one than the other with out losing ourselves in the mindless hate of our pasts."_

Orihime remembered exactly every word of what he said. Only a handful of the Espada could change without effect. Only Grimmjaw, Stark, Halibel, Szyel, and of course Ulquiorra could do so.

Orihime was yanked from her thoughts as an earth shattering reitsu almost slammed her to the floor. The mirror on her nightstand shattered and her bed creaked from the strain.

Orihime stumbled from her bed forcing herself not to crumble under it's pressure. _What's happening! Ulquiorra's spiritual pressure just erupted; I can't feel anyone else's reitsu! I have to go see what's happening out there!_

Orihime threw herself against the door._ OH, TARDERSAUSE! It's locked! What now!?… I've got It!_ She placed her hands a couple inches in front the door and an orange dome encompassed the two giant doors._ I hope this works…I REJECT!_ Immediately the doors unlocked and she stumbled out them, almost falling to her knees. _YES!_

She took a few moments balance herself then she raced down the hall. The crash of a wall shattering echoed through the entire Hueco Mundo and Orihime began to panic even more. As she ran around a corner she almost slipped and fell in a pool of blood.

When she look to see where it was coming from she saw Grimmjaw lying on the ground. Careful not to trip she went over to him. He was dead. Orihime's heart ached. He had been one of the few Espada who didn't hate her. Sure he had been rude to her every chance he got but he never actually hurt her.

A determined look crossed her face. _I will bring him back!_ She placed her hands on his torn chest and concentrated. A glowing topaz globe surrounded him in seconds. _Here I go…I REJECT! …_

At first nothing happened so she increased her power. Again nothing happened so she increased again… and again until she was using everything she had.

Finally tissue, muscles, and organs began to sew themselves together. Grimmjaw lay completely healed but remained unconscious.

Orihime had been so distracted by saving Grimmjaw that she hadn't noticed the fight going on in the room next to her.

She stared in wonder at the sight before her. She was seeing Ulquiorra in a way she had never seen him before. He looked like a beautiful Angel of Death. His hair was whipping around his expressionless face, and the tails of his coat were billowing out behind him. Ebony and emerald surrounded him seeming to give him wings as he drew his sword. His eyes were emerald as usual, they always would be, but now they were surrounded by pitch black.

She watched as he pinned the Espada she hated most, to the ground. When Orihime had first joined Aizen she had thought that Noitora was deadly-strong. But now she realized he was pathetically weak compared to her Ulquiorra._ Wait did I just say MY Ulquiorra? He's not mine… I like Ichigo, not Ulquiorra._

For some unknown reason Orihime wanted to call out his name. She wanted him to look at her with those black and evergreen eyes…but she _shouldn't_ _want_ him to.

Suddenly someone grasped her hair from behind and yanked her to her feet. She felt blazing hot steel press against her throat.

"If you want to live then tell him to stop But say nothing more than that. Do you understand?" A voice hissed in her ear.

"y-yes." she stuttered.

Present time

Ulquiorra was completely tranquil on the outside while he was shaking with anger on the inside._ How dare he do such a thing! She is not my weakness! The woman is My property! She is My ward! She is Mine to do with as I please!(With Aizen's permission, of course)…I shall have to get my revenge on Noitora later, right now I must get this situation under control before something…regretful happens. Damn you, Ichimaru!_

Ulquiorra looked straight into Orihime's eyes and released the power he had summoned. Her eyes seemed to sparkle with fear and wonder at the sight.

_How easily humans are amused._ He mused to himself.

The black flames that erupted from the splintered floor receded out of existence and the frost faded from the walls. His overwhelming spiritual pressure faded until it was barely detectable, and his eyes returned to their normal green. Ulquiorra sheathed his sword and closed his eyes as he nodded in his superior's direction.

"Forgive me for taking judgment into my own hands, Ichimaru-sama. I over reacted when Noitora attacked me." He made the apology in an emotionless tone. "May I now take Ori—My ward and return to my duties?"

Gin withdrew his sword from his captive's throat and released her hair. Immediately she scrambled away from him and scurried over to Ulquiorra while clutching at her throat.

"I'm also sorry, Ulquiorra, that I had to do this. But, would you have reacted so suddenly if I had not?" without waiting for a reply he turned to Orihime and gave a graceful bow.

"Please for give me, Orihime-chan. I should never have gone as far as I did but I couldn't have him killing Noitora now could I? I hope you don't hold it against me." He stood up, zipped over to her and grabbed one of her hands in both of his and began to shake it insanely while speaking like he was on crack. "I'm really a nice person! Really! Trust me! I'm sure Rangiku-kun as talked of me, and how we are the best of friends! Normally I would never have done such a thing! By the way…" he took a deep breath to continue. "Did Kira get in horrible trouble because of me? I hope he didn't, he was my very good friend. How has my Rangiku-kun been doing? I miss her sooo much does she miss me? Or…or does she h-hate me…?" It suddenly seemed as if he had run out of questions to ask, or maybe he didn't want the answers, Orihime couldn't tell.

She watched as Gin's face went from deep apology, to overwhelming excitement, then into a thoughtfully—depressing expression. He dropped her hand and took a step away from her, refuseing to meet her eyes.

He took a moment to look at Noitora, who had fainted from terror, then at Grimmjaw who was still mostly unconscious.

"I-I…" he started to say something but then stopped. "You may go…" he whispered solemnly. The he turned his back to them and walked slowly away down the hall. As he left a rip in the fabric of space and time opened in front of them and two medical Arrancar exited it with a stretcher. While they picked up the two, Orihime turned to Ulquiorra. She was surprised to find him staring intently at her.

"W-what is it Ulquiorra-sama?" she asked awkwardly.

He blinked as if in confusion. "Why did you just call me Ulquiorra-sama? You stopped addressing me that way months ago."

"Do you want me to call you just Ulquiorra? I will if you want." She answered chirpily.

_Does nothing affect the girl's attitude? Ever since the day I started spending time with her she has been impossibly chipper._ Ulquiorra wondered.

"What you call me does not matter because—" he was cut off by the little redhead.

"Because, _'A name is a name—nothing more' "_ She imitated his voice and answer perfectly from when she had asked him the same question months and months ago.

Ulquiorra stared at her for a moment in slight wonder._ Orihime Inoue you are turning out to be the highlight of my dark, depressing days._

"Come Orihime. Lunch should be coming soon. And today I took the liberty of ordering your favorite—chocolate covered carrots with orange juice."

Orihime's eyes grew to the size of watermelons and she began to jump up and down like a maniac. "OH YAY! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Ulquiorra! Lets go!"

Ulquiorra's cold heart melted at the sight of her joy. He didn't know why she loved food so much. He hated human food. ( at thought of food he just realized that he hadn't eaten anything but her human for days) Why eat human food when you can suck out a soul? (and not to mention the blood trickling down her throat was beginning to look particularly appetizing)

But never the less he ate her sickening food with her anyway… _just to see her smile._

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_**The fanfic is not over!!!**_

**Hey ppls! I tried to make this realllllllllly long as an apology for taking so long. Review and tell me ur likes and dislikes PLEASE!**

**Happy holidays Everyone!!!!!!!!!**

**Please review some more, they're what keeps me going!**

—**MiMi**


	8. When spaz Attacks

Declaimer- I don't own bleach…if I did I'd probably be in court for _Suspected Drug Use._

(You'll see why after you read )

**When spaz attacks**

(why sniffing crack is bad for your health)

A lone figure wandered aimlessly down a cramped ivory hallway. They dragged their feet while they walked, and their head was bowed in shame.

_Is it really possible? _Gin Ichimaru thought to him self. _Could she really… Hate me? _

__Gin thought back to the day he left… it had been so hard for him to let his closest friend go. The last memory he had of his Rangiku-kun was the devastating look of betrayal and defeat, as she watched the best thing that had ever happened to her, leave forever.

_I'm such a jerk!_ Gin slapped himself mentally. _She was my BEST friend! I saved her life then left it forever…_

Gin pushed open the door to his living quarters and walked over to his bed. He stood there for a moment them fell down face forward onto his fluffy comforter.

_I hate my life…_he mumbled into the bland quilt.

Solemnly he lifted his head from the bed and looked at the pictures on his dressor. One was taken when he and Rangiku had just become friends. Rangiku had her arm thrown over his shoulders and was making a peace sign with the other, while he was smiling, as usual, and had both his arms wrapped around her waist in a hug. Another was taken only a few weeks before the whole Rukia execution thing. Rangiku and him were unconscious on the couch in his house. His shirt was missing and lots and lots of sake bottles covered the ground. Gin was lying long ways across the couch and Rangiku was curled up next to him, with cake smeared all over both of them.

_Wait a minute…cake!_

Suddenly Gin shot off his bed and ran to his closet in a frenzy. He flung open the door and dove into the mass of clothes and other random objects, in a mad dash to reach to back of his closet where his calendar lived.

"AH-HA!!" he exclaimed as he grabbed a chappie themed calendar that was all-but duck tapped to the back wall in his closet. His finger trailed along the papers as he searched for a date.

He abruptly fell to his knees and screamed in despair at the ceiling.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! WHHHHHHHHY??!! FOR THE LOVE OF CHUZZLES, WHY!?!?!?

"That's IT! That's the LAST STARW! I can't take it anymore! I CAN"T BELIEVE I FORGET HER BIRTHDAY!!!!" Gin stormed out of his closet grabbed his coat and slammed the door behind himself. _It's time to visit my Rangiku-kun._

"IT"S TIME OF A VACATION PEOPLE!" he screamed to no one in particular.

"I'LL SEE YOU ALL IN THERAPY!"

A small servant arrancar that happened to be in the hall stopped to address the higher ranked shinigami. "U-um is something wrong…s-sir?"

Gin stopped mid-stride and stared at the tiny being before him. With speed that shouldn't have been possible he ran up to the servant and poked him in the chest accusingly.

"YOU! You haven't been doing your job!"

"W-what do you—" he stuttered in shock.

"We don't pay you to sit around and sew knick-knacks and play paddy-whack! You 're supposed to be cleaning my closet, not wondering around the hall like a Ninny! Do something productive like me!"

"B-but sir- you pay us any—" he tried to say.

"No there are no _butts_ in MY evil castle-thingy, now go do your job!"

"I don't clean sir! I'm the cook!" he protested as Gin turned to leave.

"Three words for you sunny-boy—Not. My. Problem. Now I have things to meddle in, so I bid you good day!" then he strode away like a king.

"B-but sir—!" he cried with worry.

"I said GOOD-DAY!" he snapped then… he was gone.

The servant stood there for a moment, shocked.

"Fine! Be that way!" he said. _I'll clean his stupid closet and take the crack he's sniffing while I'm at it._

**Ok people! How'd you like it? I now it's bubbly but I couldn't leave gin depressed. He doesn't do well when he's depressed. lol**

**This was without a doubt the craziest chapter I have ever wrote…. And not to mention the shortest…** (and my grammar probably sucked to.)

Please review my craziness! Reviews are what make the world go around!

--MiMi

Proverb of the Day

You know that old saying that goes like—

'All men were created equal'

Well this is how I say it—

'_All men were CREATED equal_, but then screwed up later in life.'

Lol


	9. Confessions and Convictions

**Hey ppls this is just a heads up that soon I will be making a couple chapters about what's happenin' in the material world and in the soul society. (You didn't actually think they deserted her, did you?)**

**And, yes, Gin is planning a trip to the soul society. But, no, he has NOT lost his mind, he was just freaking out about missing his Rangiku-kun's b-day. (which is pretty sad since he's the one who chose what day it's on.)lol**

**WARNING-**** LEMON… well maybe more of a LIME but same diff.**

**Disclaimer-**** I don't own bleach… but Santa owes me one. lol**

**Confessions and Convictions**

Orihime skipped merrily down the to her room with Ulquiorra at her side.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, Ulquiorra! You'll just love chocolate covered carrots! …Well at least I hope you do. None of my friends back on earth did except Rangiku. But she doesn't count cause she's from the soul society, even though she's still my friend—"

"Do you never run out of things to talk about?" Ulquiorra had listened to her talk nonstop for five minutes and he couldn't take it anymore.

"Oh…umm sorry. Talking is my way of dealing with what just happened back there… By the way—what DID just happen back there, Ulquiorra?" Orihime asked meekly, refusing to meet his eyes. She had finally stopped hopping up and down, but now she was fidgeting with her fingers and messing with her dress.

"You were there, Orihime, you witnessed it all with your own eyes. Or were you asleep the entire time?" He tried to deflect her question. Ulquiorra was relieved that she had finally stopped her insane hopping, but now he could see her fingers fidgeting out of the corner of his eye and it was driving him nuts! Hadn't he dealt with enough today?!

"No, I wasn't asleep! And you know it!" she huffed grumpily. "What I MEANT to ask was—Why were you beating up Noitora, what happened to Grimmjaw, and…" she paused, unsure if she wanted to ask her next question. "And what did Gin mean when he said I… I was y-your weakness?" the last word was barely audible in the long, dark hall.

Ulquiorra had known this question would come up eventually. And he may as well answer it before Aizen skinned him alive for what he had done this morning.

"I was killing Noitora because I utterly HATE him and he killed a another Espada, and Grimmjaw just happened to be that Espada… and Gin said what he said because…" he ceased walking and stopped Orihime's fidgeting hands by grabbing them with his own. "He said that because you are…you are…precious to me."

Orihime's saucer-sized eyes snapped up to meet his. _Did he just say what I think he said!?_ She was so surprised that she barley noticed that they where standing outside her room. _I can't believe he actually LIKES me! He actually counts ME as a friend! Not just a friend, but someone PRECIOUS to him! AND he's holding MY hand!_ and despite what she had previously thought, his hands were actually warm!

The Espada stared at her a moment longer, but when she didn't answer he dropped her hands and adverted his eyes. Then he pushed open the door to her room so that she may enter.

Orihime bit back a squeak of protest when he let her hand drop back to her side and opened the door for her.

She walked into the room, her eyes never leaving his face. Although no one else would have noticed, Orihime saw the well-hidden shine of disappointment in his eyes.

"I will return with your food…" then he paused for a moment. "If you wish to dine alone, I will understand."

Orihime thought for a moment. _Why would he think that I would want to eat alone?_ Suddenly realization hit her like a freight train in the middle of December. _He thinks that I don't want him around any more because of what he just confessed! _When she didn't answer him he began to walk out the door. _I have to stop him!_

Before he could leave Orihime ran to him and threw her arms around his shoulders. Out of reflex he caught her in his arms, and for the first time surprise was apparent on his face.

"Ori-Orihime?" was all he could manage to get out before he felt her hot breath on his neck.

"Ulquiorra…" she whispered his name against his neck.

"Your precious to me too…. And no matter what happens, I promise you always will be precious to me." Orihime pulled back so she could see his face.

"You're the only reason I haven't lost my mind in this cold palace. I don't know why, but that morning, when you woke me up from that dream… I think we became friends without even knowing it." Orihime giggled and smiled at him.

" Ever since then I've starting thinking less and less of my past life and more and more of this life—where my friends are _you…_ and Grimmjaw even." Orihime said the last part with a smile and tightened her grip on his neck, then she felt his hesitant arms slid down her back and rest on her waist as he pulled her close. His emerald gaze never left hers as he stared in utter rapture at the words she spoke.

Orihime was encouraged and a little embarrassed by the look he was giving her so she continued.

"And I know I can't do much but… If you _ever_ need me, even if it's just for company… I'll be there… Okay?" Orihime couldn't believe what she had just done and said. But she meant it with all her heart and soul, and she would do everything in her power to keep her word.

Ulquiorra stared into her chocolate brown eyes as she gave him everything he had been missing in life. Then he felt her warm breath caress his face and the night they had spent under the moon, months ago, suddenly came rushing back… And along with it came all the emotions he had felt.

Their mouths were mere centimeters apart now and Ulquiorra remembered what the faint touch of her lips had felt like, He remembered how soft her hair had been as it had brushed his cheek, He would never forget how her flowery fragrance had surrounded him when she had leaned into him or the warmth of her body next to his.

Ulquiorra desperately wanted to experience it all again… only this time there would be no interruptions.

Orihime let out a squeak of surprise, that quickly turned to a moan of pleasure as firm lips pressed against hers. Her hands burrowed in obsidian hair as Ulquiorra caught the door with his foot and slammed it close. The two staggered backward until Orihime was pressed up against the nearest wall.

Orihime felt his tongue caress her lips, begging for entrance, and she opened them willingly, instantly she felt his tongue sweet through her mouth making her groan another time. _Oh My Gosh he's a good kisser! Hmmmm, I wonder…_

Her warm hands slid from his hair to his face and she traced his tear marks down to his chin, then she grabbed the zipper on his jacket and pulled it down until it was completely open then she pushed it down his arms and onto the floor. Immediately her fingers began to caress his toned chest and to her delight, produced a deep groan of satisfaction from his throat.

Not to be out-done, Ulquiorra grasped the edges of her shirt and lifted it until it was below her breasts. She shuddered in pleasure as long white fingers stroked her skin.

_This better than I ever imagined! I don't ever want it to stop! …But I should want it to stop… Shouldn't I? _

Then his lips left hers as he lapped at the cut on her neck and trailed kisses down her neck to her collarbone._ Gin was right…she tastes better than anything I've ever tasted…oh god, I don't think I can stop, but I have to or I might—!_ His thought was cut off as a gasp of rapture escaped Orihime's lips as his clever tongue stroked a tender spot on her neck and her nails dug into his arms when his thumbs caressed the undersides of her breasts.

Suddenly Ulquiorra's body was jerked away from his lover by an unseen force.

"Ulquiorra, why did you…?" She said as she pulled her shirt back down feeling bereft and slightly relieved. _How far would we have gone?_

"Shit!" She heard him say harshly under his breath as the same unknown power forced him to his knees.

"Ulquiorra what's happening? Tell me what's wrong!" She said in a panicking voice.

Glowing, red letters from an ancient language began to appear on his wrists, and neck as if they were being burned into his skin. Ulquiorra's arms were forced behind his back as if he was in chains and the red words became the shackles that bound him. He looked up into her eyes, his face once more an emotionless mask.

"Aizen-sama does not tolerate weaknesses." He said it without any emotion yet Orihime knew exactly what he meant.

Suddenly a black rift appeared in the space directly behind him and chains made purely of dark-purple and black light attached to the shackles on his neck and wrists then disappeared into the vast darkness beyond.

Ulquiorra looked away from her worried eyes and stared at the white floor.

"I will return when I can… until then will you promise me something?" He asked.

"Yes, Ulquiorra, anything! But what do you mean, are they going to do something to you, are they taking you somewhere? I don't understand any of this, why don't you just take these awful things off?"

She fell to her knees and began to reach for the shackle around his neck, but right when she came within inches of touching it she felt a sudden increase of power and was blinded as the red words blazed a brilliant scarlet. Instantly Ulquiorra let out a single strangled cry of agony and was doubled over in anguish and torture.

Orihime snatched her hands back from him like he was on fire, and immediately the words returned to their original color and Ulquiorra returned to normal.

"Ulquiorra! Are you ok!?" She shrieked in worry.

After a seconds of heavy breathing he calmed himself down and replied in a voice that hinted nothing at the pain he had just endured.

"Only Aizen-sama can remove the chains, so don't waste your strength."

Suddenly something began to pull the chains and their captive back in the dark abyss behind him. Ulquiorra looked over his shoulder for a moment and cursed at what he saw in a language she couldn't understand. Quickly he swung his gaze back to her.

"Orihime, please promise me that you will listen who ever is assigned to take care of you in my absence. Don't worry about me, and no matter what—do NOT come looking for me."

Orihime hesitated when the chains gave a sudden jerk and Ulquiorra struggled against them as they slowly dragged him backwards. _Could I stop myself from looking for him?_ Orihime asked herself.

"Promise me Orihime! Or I will never have a moment's peace in whatever torture they sentence me to."

Orihime's eyes began to water with tears of fear and sorrow.

"Yes Ulquiorra-kun, I promise to do what's right for us."

He knew that she had just let herself a HUGE loophole but he didn't have to time to care. Using all the strength he had left he fought against the force pulling him back and strained himself forward. He pressed his lips against hers in a farewell kiss and put all his feelings for her into it. Then the thing pulling him yanked him with such power that he was wrenched away from her and sucked backwards into the black hole that would take him to his master.

"ULQUIORRA! NO!"

Orihime dove toward the black portal, desperately trying to reach him. But just as the tips of her fingers reached it, it disappeared into thin air. Leaving her all alone in the room that was more her prison now, than it ever had been before.

**Cliffhanger much? Lol I just love ending stories this way! but I try not to do it too much because it seems cruel in a sick and twisted way. Lol**

**Tell me who you wan the next chapter to be about****—**

**soul society/material world (a.k.a.- Ichigo and friends)**

**Or**

**Gin and his coo-coo plan to find his Rangiku-kun.**

**Or**

**Ulquiorra's trial and Orihime's new warden **

**(still will be Ulquihime although their apart) **


	10. You want out? Here's a spoon start digin

**Hey ppl I just wanted to apologize for the long wait for this chapter.**

**It's almost Christmas so I've been busy and I I've also been working on my other fanfiction called '****What Dreams Are Made Of****'**

**It's an FMA (Fullmetal alchemist) fanfiction. It's EdXWinry and it's got lots of my sexy Alphonse in it. Lol**

**If you like this fanfiction you'll definitely like my other one so read it if you want.**

**Anyways here's the long awaited chapter.**

**You want out? Here's a spoon, start digging.**

"Why can't I go yet? I trained like I said I would and I'm plenty strong enough to bust in there and get Orihime back!" Ichigo Kurosaki yelled at Rukia.

"Ichigo you can't just go storming in a place as dangerous as Hueco Mundo without a plan! We know your strong but there are still people in there that could kick your ass!" Rukia screamed back.

"Now, now you guys. Yelling isn't going to bring Orihime back." Kisuke Urahara said from behind his fan.

"Stay out of this Hat n' Clogs!" the orange haired Vizard bellowed.

Kisuke folded his fan and conked Ichigo over the head so hard it created a small crater in the ground at his feet.

"Now as I was saying—Yelling won't bring Orihime back, BUT a carefully planned plan will."

Rukia scoffed "We already knew we needed a good plan, Urahara. The problem is that no one has one."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong! Since your soooo lucky to be friends with such a genius friend like me, I will tell you a plan I have gathered by my own ingenuity."

At that moment Renji walked through the door of the shop, grabbed a plate of food and commented.

" And what he means by 'his own ingenuity' is he had me ask Captain Hitsugaya and he came up with one for us."

Kisuke spun around and grabbed the plate of food right out of Renji's and threw it out a window.

"No food for you!" he said smartly then he turned back the others.

"How this plan came into my possession is of no relevance! The fact is that **I** have it so **I** will be the one to tell it!" and with that Urahara pulled a rolled piece of paper out of his sleeve and spread it out on the table.

Everyone crowded around the table and stared intently as Kisuke explained the plan. After a moment of utter silence Ichigo yelled at the top of his lungs.

"OH COME ON, I COULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT!!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile in Hueco Mundo Grimmjaw was walking down one of the millions of hallways with a tray of chocolate covered carrot in his hand. He came to a stop a one of the millions of doors and proceeded to walk in without knocking.

The entire room was utterly silent. He walked in and set the try on the only table in the room.

"Hey Princess, I know your in here so you may as well come out!" he said in an irritated voice.

Silence was his only answer.

"Hey did you hear me? Get your as-butt out her already!" Grimmjaw stopped himself from cussing. It would probably only make her hide longer…and even though he hated to admit it-he owed the human his life.

Out of reflex Grimmjaw ducked just as a sharp object flew at his head.

"What the fuck was that for!" He shouted as he spotted the prisoner hiding next to her bed stand, holding a chunk of shattered glass in her hand._ Screw no cussing, if she's gonna throw sharp stuff at me then I'm gonna cuss all I want!_

As another piece flew past his head Grimmjaw stomped over to where she stood next to her bed. When pulled her arm back to throw another he caught it in mid air. But what he wasn't expecting was for her other hand to bitch-slap him across the face.

He stared in utter shock at the pissed-off woman in front of him _Since when was she so violent?_

"Bring him back y-you—you MONSTER!" she tried to slap him again but he caught that hand too. She viciously lashed out with her leg and tried to knee him in the groin.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Stop and think before you do something you'll regret, Orihime." He said as he narrowly avoided her deadly knee by throwing her away from him and onto the bed.

"Don't you ever say my name like you know me! You don't know anything about me!" she yelled barely holding her tears back.

Grimmjaw caught the pillows she launched at him and threw them out of the way.

"Would you CALM DOWN! Damn! Did you always give Ulquiorra this much crap?"

At the sound of Ulquiorra's name Orihime burst into tears. She jumped off her bed and mad e a run for the open door, but Grimmjaw beat her to it. Orihime slammed her fists against it until he was sure she had broken them.

"Bring him BACK! BRING! HIM! BACK!" she screamed as she bawled her eyes out.

"He didn't do anything… he's innocent… it's all my fault..." she whispered it past her tears.

For the first time in his life Grimmjaw felt like a complete ass-hole. _She really loved that emotionless bastard…and after that watching his trial I guess he loves her back…Damn I hate it when I know I have to be nice!_

Orihime's weeping paused when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. Very slowly she took her hands out of her hands and turned her head to look up into Grimmjaw's sympathetic eyes.

"Inoue, there's something I want to tell you… it's about Him and it's about me."

Gradually Orihime managed to stop the tears enough that she could talk.

"F-fine." She whispered.

Then she shook his hand off of her shoulder and walked over to the couch and hugged a pillow.

Grimmjaw ran a hand through his hair; he had only told this story once or twice and it got harder every time. Hesitantly he sat down on the opposite end of the couch so that there was a large amount of space between them.

"Has… He ever told you of his life before he became a hollow?" he asked quietly.

Her only answer was a barely discernable shake of her head.

"Ok… I'll tell you but I share mine first."

"I lived England when I was alive and it was the year of… well lets just say it was a long time ago… back then there was no electricity, no guns, and no cars. All there was for weapons were swords, maces, and bows and arrows. For shelter, if you were lucky you lived in huts, cottages, and if you were royalty you lived in castles… I had no family left… my mom had been murdered by some thieves who wanted the pennies she had with her…. and my father had died of the common cold." Grimmjaw paused to take a deep breath.

"I was 18 at the time and had two sisters, one was 15 the other… was only 4… I had left for barely 20minutes to check on the fields down the road… I heard screaming and saw smoke in the direction of town…."

Orihime listened in awe and horror of the life he had lived back then. She could almost hear the wretched screams of the unfortunate people caught in the flames of death, and she swore that she could smell smoke on the small breeze that came through the window.

"I ran as fast as I could back to town… but I was to late… the raiders had boarded my little sisters in the house and set it on fire. I tried to get to them but the fire was so hot… I heard their wails of pain as they cried my name… I could see my youngest sister's tiny hand print on one of the scorched windows…"

Orihime couldn't listen any more. It was too sad.

"Grimmjaw you don't have to finish, I understand, …" she whispered.

The sixth Espada didn't so much as look in her direction as he continued.

"After that I ran to the shed… I was so angry, so filled with hate that all could think of was revenge. I took the harvesting scythe and I followed the raider's tracks and I… I killed them… after that I stole one of their swords and started training. I became one of the best assassins in history, I killed without remorse, and felt nothing for lives of those I killed…until I was assigned to kill Her."

Grimmjaw unknowingly smiled as he recalled her memory.

"Her name was Suki and she had black hair that glinted a midnight blue when the sunlight hit it just right." Grimmjaw chuckled to himself. "And she had a temper that even the strongest of men feared and yet she had the most kind-hearted friend, come to think of it I think her friend looked a lot like you... I told her what I did for a living and she didn't care. She and I couldn't keep away from each other, and after a few months when we were celebrating someone's birthday I accidentally… got her pregnant." Grimmjaw laughed nervously at that memory. "And so after only knowing each other for three months we got married. "

Orihime pressed a hand to her mouth. _Could MY Tatsuki be the reincarnation of his Suki?_

"That was the happiest time of my life…until the man who wanted her dead found out about it. I told him I wouldn't kill her, I _couldn't_ kill her… To say the least he wasn't happy about it and he decided that we both deserved to die. We fled our home; thankfully her kind friend was the princess's lady-in-waiting so she pulled a favor and got us a safe place in the castle as some servants."

Orihime was relieved that they hadn't died… but Grimmjaw's story wasn't finished yet. After taking a deep breath Grimmjaw continued.

We lived there for a year or two and we had our little girl in the castle and named her Delilah. One night the king had guest over and my wife and I were their servants… that night my wife entered their chambers in a routine check up and—and they killed her.

A gasp escaped Orihime's lips.

"I went looking for her and when I found her dead, I finally recognized the king's guest. It was the man who had paid me to kill her. He had bright orange hair and brown hate-filled eyes- I guess that's why I hate your friend Ichigo so much…. I was so grief-stricken that I attacked the man and killed him with my bare hands. After that the king sentenced me to death and had me executed… I don't know what happened to my daughter… when I died I was so consumed with hate and sorrow that I became a hollow immediately and I don't remember what happened to her…"

A long silence filled the ivory room, and Orihime couldn't think of anything to say other than—

"I'm so sorry, Grimmjaw."

After a moment Grimmjaw answered her.

"So am I…"

Seeming to have shook off the morbid memories Grimmjaw, looked her in the eyes and said "Are you still sure you want to know Ulquiorra's past?"

Orihime swallowed the lump in her throat and stuttered yes.

"Then I will take you to him and let you hear it from him yourself." He said as he stood and walked toward the door.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**So what do you think?**

**Yeah, yeah, I know Grimmjaw was way to nice in this chapter but I had to have her find out some how!**

**Next chapter – Ulquiorra's past life will finally be revealed!**

Ps- it would make me REALLY happy if any of you who watch the 'Fullmetal Alchemist' series- could you please read my Fanfiction!

(( It's called 'What Dreams Are Made Of' ))

**!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!**

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**


	11. Kiss of Death

**Hey everyone sorry it took me so long I was trying to get my other fanfiction up and going. (I'm finally to chapter 5!!!)**

**But sadly NO ONE is reviewing on that story except one person.**

**(Edward-Elric-in-red)**

**Imean come on is it really that hard to review ppl? You guys do, so why can't they?**

**Anyway here you go ppl!**

**

* * *

**

Kiss of Death

Orihime clutched her hands nervously as Grimmjaw led her down a hall she had never seen before. They came to a black door that didn't fit into this white washed world that she lived in. Grimmjaw put a hand on the door and she felt a surge of energy then it unlock with a click and swung wide open to reveal another hall she hadn't known existed.

Grimmjaw looked back at her surprised face then proceeded to walk down the pitch-black hall. Afraid of what she might find at the end of that dark hall, Orihime hesitated. A scream of pain echoed from the hall and even though she knew it wasn't her Dark Knight's, she ran into the hallway to catch up with Grimmjaw.

There were eleven doors in the hall, all with a different number above their frame. Grimmjaw stopped in font of the one that held the number four and placed one hand on the door handle before looking back to her.

"When you enter this room, Orihime, your going to see what he's done to himself to save you."  
Just as his hand began to turn the knob a voice called from farther down the hall.

"He's not in there." The dark shape said.

Grimmjaw lifted a glowing fist and glared into the darkness.

"Show yourself!" he shouted.

The first thing they saw was the white and black of a captains coat, and Orihime's heart skipped a beat because she thought it might be Aizen. But the next step it took revealed lavender hair and a smiling face, almost immediately Orihime was flooded with relief. _It's only Gin…_

Grimmjaw lowered his fist and nodded in the shinigami's direction.

"What's with the outfit, Gin? I thought Aizen told you to burn that coat…" but when Gin didn't answer Grimmjaw asked, "Why isn't Ulquiorra in his assigned power cell?"

"Aizen thought that someone might try to release Ulquiorra from his cell so he booby-trapped it and put Ulquiorra in power cell X." Gin pointed at the large black doors at the end of the hall.

Grimmjaw's face paled when Gin pointed at the door, and he looked at Orihime with an expression on his face that Orihime never wanted to see. Gin walked passed Orihime and slipped a piece of paper in her hands as he left.

"Don't read that until The Plan has been executed and you are alone." And with that the doors closed and left her and Grimmjaw alone.

Orihime was tempted to read the note but wanted to see Ulquiorra more. Grimmjaw unlocked the door and swung it wide open to reveal a sight that almost drove Orihime to her knees in sorrow.

"I present to you- Aizen's Punishment at it's worst…" Grimmjaw said solemnly.

Orihime stared in horror at what she say. The room was a sickly grayish color and held no furniture. There was one bared window in the farthest corner and it revealed nothing but black. A blocky pillar rose four or five feet out of the ground and an emerald glowing shield was placed on top of it. Within the shield of jade lay a weird shaped object that she had seen only once before and had vowed to destroy.

Glowing black and purple chains were embedded into the pillar and they pulsed as energy came up the chains and into the emerald shield. The Hougyokou pulsed with power as it absorbed the energy from the shield. Then Orihime followed the chains from the pillar and back down to their source…

A strangled cry escaped her lips and she dashed into the cell. She dropped to her knees in front of the crippled mass in front of her that was Ulquiorra. He was on his knees and his head was bowed. The shackles of energy still held his arms behind his back, and the one around his neck was the only thing stopping him from collapsing on the floor. New manacles had been strapped to his calves and now chained him to the floor. The Arrancar out fit he wore that had once been perfect and white was now shredded and dirty, with splatters of blood staining it.

Very gently Orihime whispered Ulquiorra's name and cupped his face in her hands. When he didn't answer she lifted his face to meet hers. New tears burst forth from Orihime's eyes when she saw his bloodied complexion, and she cradled his head in her arms. _Why did they do this to you!_ She sobbed to her self.

"Why did you let them do this to you…?" she whispered into his hair.

Suddenly that's when she realized that the white helmet that had always been on his head… was gone. Orihime was astonished and she searched around wildly. When she looked toward the floor she found it's shattered remains in at least thirty pieces lying next to him.

Orihime's eyes snapped back to Ulquiorra when she felt him stir in her arms. Using whatever energy he had left Ulquiorra pushed himself back into a sitting position on his legs, so that he could see her face.

"If they hadn't done this to me… they would have killed you… that's why I let them do this." Ulquiorra whispered passed suppressed groans of pain.

Orihime threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly with tears of relief in her eyes.

"I t-thought you were d-dead!" she stuttered as she tried to choke back her tears.

Orihime felt what was left of Ulquiorra's rietsu surround her and pull her back so that he could look into her eye's.

"I died a long time ago, Orihime… but your smile… your laugh… and your love have brought me back." Suddenly his rietsu level dropped by half and the chains that bound him surged to life, but nonetheless he continued. "And even if I had to live like this for the rest of my life… I wouldn't change a thing that has happened."

Orihime caught him in her arms as he collapsed, and a thought suddenly occurred to her and she wanted to slap herself for not doing it earlier. Orange light surrounded Ulquiorra and she tried to reject what had happened… but nothing happened.

"Aizen has blocked you from healing me… and even if you did he'd just do it all again." He let out a slight gasp of pleasure as her warm rietsu surrounded him. He never wanted to be without her again, but he knew he had to let her go, and thanks to Ichimaru he was going to do just that.

"Ulquiorra, I promise I'll come visit you every day I can! Grimmjaw could take me, or I'll just sneak out and come by myself, I promise!" Orihime said determinedly.

Ulquiorra pulled away from her.

"You will not!" he said with the strongest voice he could muster. "you are going to go back to your room and… and your going to go home!"

Orihime stared at him in astonishment. "H-Home…?" she whispered.

"Yes Orihime, home… where you will be safe, and as far away from this place and… _me_ as possible." Ulquiorra hated that she had to leave him more than he thought was possible.

"NO!" Orihime shook her head violently at him with tears streaming down her face. "NO, NO, NO! I WON'T LEAVE YOU!"

"You have to Orihime…I-…I won't be here to protect you much longer…" he whispered as the last of his rietsu disappeared and he slumped against his chains.

"Ulquiorra…? Ulquiorra!? " she bawled as she began to shake him.

"Wake up, Ulquiorra! COME BACK!!" Then she slammed her fists on the floor and cried her eyes out, "come back…"

A faint whirring sound caught her attention and she looked up as one of Ulquiorra's eyes disintegrated into a thousand tiny shining pieces, and flew into a broken piece of helmet that about the size of a penny and was vaguely shaped like a heart. It pulsed with life before it turned transparent and changed to the darkest shade of emerald she had ever seen.

Tenderly Orihime picked it up. Ulquiorra's life force pulsed from the tiny heart and she could swear that she could almost hear his voice calling her name. Very carefully Orihime brushed spiritual pressure against it and it immediately leapt to life in her hands.

Suddenly an opaque Ulquiorra was standing before her. his tear marks were gone along with what was left of his hollow mask and surprisingly he was wearing ordinary material world clothes… the exact some clothes as the man in her dreams…

Everything suddenly clicked together in Orihime's head. Ulquiorra was her Prince! He was the man who had died trying to save her! Ulquiorra was the father of her beautiful Ivory! … And now he was dead.

The glowing Ulquiorra slipped a hand out of his pocket and held it out to her. Orihime immediately took it with an awe-struck face. Ulquiorra pulled her against him and hugged her like she was the most precious thing in the world.

Orihime pulled away from him and stared into his perfect face. "H-How…?" she whispered.

Spirit Ulquiorra leaned in and kissed her, and when he did information flooded into her brain. Ulquiorra had used his dieing strength to lock his soul in a piece of mask so that he could always be with her. Now if she ever got lonely or sad all she'd have to do is summon him, and he'd be there for her. The man who stood before her had everyone of Ulquiorra's memories and was what Ulquiorra had been meant to look like. His eyes were still a startling green and his hair was jet black, but this time his face didn't hide anything. This time his face was warm and happy and was staring at her like she was everything to him.

Suddenly there was a giant explosion that shook the entire palace and she sensed the rietsu of many shinigami. The spiritual Ulquiorra pushed Orihime toward the door where Grimmjaw was yelling for her to follow and then disappeared into the crystal heart.

Orihime squeezed the note and her new compact Ulquiorra in her hands with a death grip and streaked after Grimmjaw to only God knows where.

* * *

**Hey ppls sorry it took so long! I've been busy with my other fanfiction that I just started. So please for give me!**

**Yeah, yeah I know that we didn't get to hear Ulquiorra's past life but I already have that planned out ok? so calm down!**

**Please review and have a nice day ppls!**

**Happy New Year! **

**(I'm saying it now because I might not update before next year)**

**--MiMi**


	12. Confusing Chapter

**Hi ppl I'm soooooo srry for taking so long. Plz forgive me? Pretty please? I made this chapter extra long and made it from lost of points of view. So it was hard to write.**

**Please review!**

**Disclaimer- I don't own bleach I just wish I did….**

**Confusing chapter….**

From the shadows a tall dark figure watched as his most faithful servant's life force drained away into the Hougyokou and an evil smile curved his lips. Everything was going as he had planned. Ulquiorra had fallen for the bait and now the Hougyokou had almost all the power it needed to fully awaken.

Aizen walked over to the lifeless corpse that had been Ulquiorra and kicked it out of the way to grab the Hougyokou. As his hand moved through the glowing shield surrounding it, power pulsed through his body and he was almost thrown back, but he pressed forward and grasped his prize.

The air around him shifted as he held the small object in his hand. Now was the time to demonstrate to his barely faithful subjects just how powerful he really was…

-----------------------

Ulquiorra was drifting through a sea of pain and sorrow. The thought of leaving Orihime had scared him so much that he had sentenced himself to E'cel. In simple terms E'cel was where u went when a soul was ripped in half, the former Espada had fixed himself to a world where he did not belong just to see her smile once more time, or to hear her angel's voice say his name.

Every step she took him farther from his body and dragged him deeper into a place worse than hell… Ulquiorra fought to get to the surface, where his flaming angel was, and where is heart was. He could sense explosions of power and could feel Orihime's anxiety- she was confused beyond belief.

As he finally broke the surface of E'cel and he could once again see, hear, and feel everything around him, Ulquiorra felt a giant spike in power behind him in the prison they had just escaped. _The Hougyokou…_Ulquiorra cursed himself. As long as it was in existence Aizen would have almost unlimited power, they had to destroy it soon, or his former master would unleash it on the soul society and then all would be lost.

---------------------------

The souls society was deathly quiet. The tall white buildings seemed completely empty to anyone who didn't know what secret lay inside. Gin Ichimaru pulled his black cloak closer around him and descended the hill that over looked his former home. He had one chance to get through the twin white doors, and if he failed then… then everything and everyone he cared about would be gone, or worse- under Aizen's control.

As he approached the giant white gate he saw a brief glimpse of the face he had longed to see since the time he had left this place. _Maybe she hadn't forgiven him and it was all a trick to catch him…_A treacherous voice whispered in his mind. Gin tried to shut it out but it kept whispering in the back of his mind. _What if she betrays you? You know her captain hates u… and she follows her captain's orders even if it means turning you in…_

Gin felt an intense urge to turn and run. He could always find another to help him right? …No, this was the only way. He had to trust in her, even if it meant his down fall. Suddenly the wind picked up and he saw silver flashing in the air. Rangiku's bankai never failed to amaze the ex captain.

Ash Cat flew through the air toward him and Gin almost drew his sword but when it suddenly changed directions he let his hand fall back to his side. If his plan was going to work he had to calm down and not jump at every shadow that crossed his path, Gin told himself as he pulled his dark hood back into place and followed the bankai.

It led him around and away from the pale walls of the soul society and toward the hill he had just left. _Why is she leading me here?_ As if to answer him the Ash Cat suddenly flared to life and flew toward a lone tree, disappearing in its trunk.

His black cloak whipped around him as he came to a sudden halt in front of the tree, hesitantly he reached for he tree where the bankai had disappeared. But just before his the tips of his fingers touch its withered bark a hand shot out of it and grasped him by the front of his shirt and yanked him inside.

-------------------------------

"Why do these damn walls have to be so hard to put holes in?" Ichigo complained as he once again attacked the walls guarding Hueco Mundo. But once again it held fast with barely a scratch just as it had every other time he or Rukia or any of the others attacked it.

Rukia grabbed the redhead's arm stopping him from trying again.

"Ichigo its not gonna work we're gonna have to hope our informer comes through and unlocks the door for us." The petite raven hair girl's hand lingered on her comrade's arm even when he turned toward her with confusion on his face.

"Informer? What informer? Screw waiting for them! I'm getting us in now!" Ichigo took her hand in his for a brief second without even knowing that he did so.

"You and the other might wanna back up." And with that he dropped Rukia's hand and wiped the other over his face, bringing his Vizard mask into view.

Rukia jumped back out of the way just as a massive amount of rietsu burst from Ichigo. Uryu and Chad threw their arms up to protect their faces from the lashing wind. The unearthly scream of a hollow echoed through out the wasteland known as Las Noches as Ichigo slammed Zangetus into ground at his feet.

Immediately black light exploded from the crevasse and the earth splintered as the Vizard's power rippled out like waves in a pond toward the Hueco Mundo. As if in answer the ivory castle shook and the wall exploded, giving them entrance to one of its many empty halls. As the smoke cleared they all just stood there, watching as Ichigo's mask crumbled and his sword returned to normal. Since when has he been this strong they all wondered? He's not even tired Uryu whispered in disbelief under his breath.

"Those walls should have been immune to a soul reaper's attack… how did you do that Ichigo?" whispered Rukia in amazement.

"No time to explain!" he said as he grabbed her hand and tugged her into the whole. "We have to find Orihime fast. Who knows what they've been doing to her for almost a year!"

They all nodded and followed Ichigo. Uryu gave Rukia a look that made her blush and she immediately dropped Ichigo's hand and avoided his questioning gaze.

"Where do u think they're keeping her?" she said changing the subject, and with a little hesitation he answered her, but only after giving her the We-will-talk-about-this-later look.

"If we get close we should be able to sense her, and if that don't work then we can always just find that ass Ulquiorra and make him tell us." Ichigo said as he tightened his hands on zangetsu.

Suddenly they came to place where the hallway split into four different pathways. Without missing a step Uryu took the one farthest to the right.

"We'll regroup here at this intersection. Everyone take a hall." And with that he disappeared down the hall and around corner.

Chad nodded at Ichigo and Rukia then he ran down the hall closest to Uryu. Once Chad had left, Ichigo and Rukia stood alone. Rukia drew her sword and grasped it tightly then she cast Ichigo a determined glance, and began down the hall next to Chad's.

As he watched her small figure begin to disappear images suddenly flew into his mind... Rukia calling out to him in pain…a tall lean figure with dark hair walking down toward him, taunting him with news of Orihime… he had been so powerful, he hadn't had a chance… then the blood, so much blood…

The throb of sorrow still lingered in Ichigo. He'd almost lost her for good, all because he couldn't control his emotions. Ichigo still remembered the fear and guilt as he had fled Hueco Mundo with Rukia in his arms, leaving Orihime behind. Their pathetic attempt at saving Orihime had done nothing but waste time… and almost cost him the life of the one he loved most.

Ichigo gritted his teeth. That wouldn't happen this time, not if he could stop it. Making a sudden decision Ichigo flash-stepped and landed directly in front of Rukia. She ran directly into him but he caught her and looked her in the eye.

"I'm not letting you out of my sight… not this time."

Something strong was behind those words, a promise. Rukia was both overjoyed and offended by the statement. She wasn't some helpless human. She was a full-grown woman of the Kuchiki household, and she had saved his butt on many occasions!

Ichigo had pushed a touchy button with Rukia and he could see it in her eyes. When she began to pull her away from him he just held onto her tighter.

"Rukia your not gonna change my mind. I'm coming with u whether or not u want me too!" he said in a determined voice.

A spark of temper flared in her eyes. "Ichigo I can take care of myself! I don't need u to baby-sit me! I can handle this!" the raven-haired shinigami snapped at him and she pulled back harder and pushed past him.

What happened next was happened so fast that Rukia didn't have time to react. A massive flux in spiritual pressure exploded off to the side and with in seconds Rukia was thrown head first in the wall and the next thing she knew she found herself flat on the ground. The familiar sound of Ichigo swearing whispered in her ear as she vaguely realized that he was shielding her body with his own from the millions of debris falling around them.

Rukia's vision fizzled in and out of focus as she felt Ichigo wrap his arms around her and drag her down the hall while dodging the man-sized pieces of wall and ceiling raining around them. Then the barely conscious shinigami felt her feet lose contact with the floor, as Ichigo leapt from the collapsing passage and into a room that seemed like it was the only thing not falling apart.

The icy cold shock of the Ichigo pressing her up against the wall to block her from further harm, managed to summon back most of her awareness. Very slowly she cracked open an eye to look around herself. They were trapped in a long room lined with pillars and only one exit on the top of a flight of steep stairs at the end of the room. Rukia's vision blurred as something trickled down from her forehead and was now burning her eyes like soap in a cut.

As she reached to wipe the substance away a hand grasped hers and lowered it then returned to her face and did it for her while also swiping a sleeve over the rest of it. Rukia's head was throbbing like mad as she opened her eyes and looked into the stony face of Ichigo. His eyes had a glint of steel in them as he took a step back and lowered her to the floor. With quick sure movements he ripped off a piece of his kimono and placed it on her head, which instantly caused her to yelp in pain.

"W-What happened Ichigo?" she said as she fought back the pain fogging her mind, and after pulling out a small round pill and pushing it past her lips and into her mouth he answered.

"They know we're here. Someone tried to collapse the tunnel in on us." He stared into her eyes for a time not saying anything then he looked away, disgusted with himself. "This was my fault… again. It seems like I'm always hurting u in some way or another, doesn't it?"

Immediately Rukia shook her head in denial and started to protest, but regretted it immediately as her vision blacked out momentarily and she swayed to the side. But before she could fall any farther Ichigo's strong hands caught her and held on to her protectively.

"Rukia! Are you ok?" he asked worriedly, "Did you swallow the pill I gave you? Rukia you have to—" Rukia placed a hand over his mouth and waited for the room to stop spinning.

"I'm fine Ichigo… what do u expect? I just got my head bashed against a wall if I remember correctly." A small light of laughter light his eyes but was quickly put out but another emotion.

"Rukia I—" he began but suddenly a shadow shrouded them from above and a hideous laugh echoed through the hall.

Noitora stood at the very top of the stairs with a malicious grin on his face.

"Well, Well, Well I had hoped that u had escaped the stairs, now I have something interesting to do... It seems we didn't beat u hard enough the last time u decided to pay us a visit. Maybe this time I'll do what I should have done last time and kill you myself." He drew his sword and took one leisurely step down the stairs.

Rukia grabbed her sword off the ground and struggled to stand but Ichigo's hand held her down. She looked up at him slightly annoyed but also happy that she didn't have to get up.

"Stay… Let me take care of this your still not healed." He ordered and she opened her mouth to argue even though she knew he was right, but suddenly she couldn't talk because his mouth had covered hers and was kissing her like it was the last time he'd get the chance.

"Please Rukia listen to me for once… I need to do this for you... and for myself." He gave her the look of complete innocence that she could never resist, and she finally nodded.

Black energy swirled around Ichigo as he drew his sword and rested it on his shoulder. He turned to Noitora with a look on his face that was the very definition of Pissed-Off. The Espada grinned and drew his sword also and released a massive amount of rietsu to match his opponent's.

Without warning disappeared and rematerialized a hairs-breath away from Noitora, the sound of swords clashing echoed around the room as Ichigo slammed zangetsu at the Espada with bone shattering force. The floor barely had enough time to implode beneath Noitora's feet before the Vizard had appeared behind him and struck again. Noitora flash stepped out of the way just barely in time to deflect the blow away from his neck before he was suddenly flung across the room by a knee to the stomach.

Pillars three times the size of tree trunks snapped like twigs as he flew through the air, unknowingly playing the exact role as a former, more powerful Espada had only a few months before.

Noitora was panicking now. This definitely wasn't the same shinigami that had stormed the Hueco Mundo before. He was stronger, much stronger; in fact Noitora was beginning to think he was too strong. This wasn't going well, he needed a distraction to stop the maniac's assault before it was to late for him to escape.

Ichigo felt his Hollow side creeping forward, whispering in his mind, _let me out…You know you want to, you want to feel my power again… don't you remember how good that felt? Don't you remember how good it felt to be—Invincible…_Ichigo slammed the door in his mind shut, unsuccessfully trying to shut the beast up. Of course he remembered the feeling. Every time he drew his sword the memory of the unlimited power that had flowed through him came rushing back and he was tempted to go back. He was tempted to be, for once, his true self and let go of the control he always had to maintain, but he couldn't afford to slip up. Not now… not ever.

As Noitora smashed through the pillars a surge of deja-vu hit him. He had been here, in this exact room, fighting this exact fight only a few months ago. Only last time it was Ichigo, not his opponent that was the under-dog… Last time he had lost…

A scream cut through his thoughts like a sword through water. While he had been been distracted Noitora had changed course and attacked Rukia. Rukia had dove out of the way just in time to dodge the unexpected assault and was now fly backwards and to the side with her arms out stretched and hands crossed, palms out.

"Bakudo number 45! Pale Lighting Strike!!" she shouted and fired at him but the attack bounced harmlessly off the steely arrancar skin and he rushed her, sword in hand.

Yanked down the door separating his human self from his hollow self and a unleashed all the energy he could in the small amount of time, and channeled it into one flash-step, praying that he got there in time… but he already knew he was too late.

But just as he thought Noitora's sword would strike Ichigo heard the voice of the only person who could have saved her, and was almost blinded by Ultra-fluorescent-orange light.

"Shunshunrika PROTECT!"

---------------------------------------------

Grimmjaw and Orihime could feel the spiritual pressure of thousands of arrancar and other Espada around them as they ran through the white palace at a break-neck pace. Twice they had run into Yammi and twice Grimmjaw had grabbed her by the arm and yanked her to run away faster. They had only bee running ten minutes or so and he was cussing non-stop under his breath, and he had knocked at least ten lower ranked arrancar through a couple walls just because they hadn't gotten out of the way fast enough.

"Dammit princess! Can't you run faster than this!? Do you WANT to die!?" He shouted for the seventh time in the last five minutes.

"I'm trying Grimmjaw-san! I can't run as fast as you! I'm only a human soul!" She was panting raggedly, her lungs burned like they were on fire, and she didn't think her legs could take much more of this.

The only thing that was comforting about this run was that every minute or so she would feel Ulquiorra's soul brush against hers and every time he felt a little closer. Grimmjaw had told her that he probably wouldn't be coming back for a long time- if ever. He had mumbled something about Ulquiorra being a fool to go through E'cel just to stay with a human. Orihime had no idea what E'cel was and when she asked his had pushed her in front of him and told her 'less talk, more run'.

Grimmjaw was pulling her around, yet another corner when a second explosion went off ahead of them and made her lose her footing. As she was plummeting toward the floor she heard Grimmjaw cuss for the hundredth time, then felt strong arms catch her. But when she opened her eyes she saw a face that didn't resemble Grimmjaw at all.

"Ulquiorra!" she gasped and hugged him tight.

"I'm back… for now. We must get you out of here, come on." He picked her up in his arms and ran off down the hall with Grimmjaw trailing behind confused as hell.

Orihime saw the beads of sweat on his forehead and could tell that he was struggling to maintain a physical body so she squirmed out of his arms and made her jello-legs run by themselves, even though she was sure that they couldn't make it much farther.

Just then they came to a giant hole in a wall. A tall, lean, and unmistakable figure with fiery hair had just swatted that monster Noitora away like an annoying fly. Orihime's heart swelled with joy at the sight of her former crush and when she saw Rukia too all her faded memories seemed to jump back into her mind more vividly then ever before. She wanted to run to them and hug them and squeeze them and tell them how much she missed them until they died from it. But that joy was short lived as the dust cleared and she saw Noitora had changed course and was attacking a defensless Rukia and Ichigo was nowhere in sight.

"Orihime!" One word, and Orihime knew exactly what Ulquiorra needed.

In perfect synchronization Orihime and Ulquiorra leapt into action. Ulquiorra disappeared with a speed that she wasn't even sure Ichigo could match in his bankai form, (apparently being made of pure spiritual energy had its perks) and at the exact moment his body disappeared Orihime threw her hands out in front of herself, palms out and shouted with all the energy and emotion she could muster.

"Shunshunrika PROTECT!"

Ginger hair whipped throw the air as Orihime's rietsu, stronger than it had ever been before, burst from her. Just as Ulquiorra materialized in front of Rukia and grabs Noitora's sword with his bare hands, trying to stop it from slashing the raven haired shinigami in half. Noitora's sword was slicing through his skin but he held on because if he failed Orihime now he would never forgive himself. What is the use of being here if he can't protect her and the ones she loves?

Blood was running down is arms after only a second of grabbing the sword, which vaguely surprised him, he hadn't he could bleed anymore but now wasn't the time to worry about that. Ulquiorra's worst enemy was slicing through his tough-as-steel arrancar skin and if Orihime's shield didn't stop him Ulquiorra would be missing two hands, and he didn't even want to think about how that would feel. For some reason, now that he was a 'pure soul' he could feel everything twice as and sharply as before. It was both a blessing and a curse… but in this case it was definitely a curse.

Just as Ulquiorra was about to shout in pain and had lost all hope of keeping his hands, Orihime's voice echoed through the room and an orange dome appeared between Noitora's sword and the ex-Espada's ragged hands. A warm tingly feeling surrounded Ulquiorra's hands and he watched as they slowly returned to normal and something close to a smile curved his mouth as he hurled Noitora across the hall.

He heard a noise from behind and turned just in time to see the petite shinigami begin to collapse on the ground. Out of instinct he tried to catch her but he was late and missed but caught the front material of her kimono. That's when he noticed the she and a slice across her collarbone that was bleeding like mad. He silently cursed Noitora then quickly turned around and searched the rubbles for any sign of him but found none.

Orihime let her power fade and immediately ran to Rukia and Ulquiorra's side. But the next thing she knows she's hears Ulquiorra curse and sees him look around and then Grimmjaw's huge body tackles her to the floor.

**What did u think? Yes I know the ending sucks but it was getting late….**

**Please review!!!**

**-MiMi**


	13. Painful Memories

**Hey ppl long time no see huh? I know I've been taking a little longer to update then I used to but please don't give up on me just because I'm a tiiiiiny bit slow. Lol**

**This chapter was really hard to put together because I was trying to think of a name for ichigo's hollow side but I couldn't think of anything right away. So I kinda just cheated and took the first four letters of Zangetsu and decided to make Zang his name.**

**Yeh, yeh, I know what ur thinking- 'what kind of name is Zang'? But I was desperate ok? So ether come up with a better one or live with my decision… it is MY story after all.**

**Anyway don't worry about Orihime she'll be back to normal and safe at home soon… but who knows, maybe she'll have a guest or two coming home with her… *wink, wink* lol**

**You wont know until u read it… and u cant read it till I write it soo… u'll just have to stick around and keep reading. XP lol I feel so evil for doing that.**

**PS— THE WINTER WAR IS ONLY A CHAPTER OR TWO AWAY!!!! XD YAY!!!**

**Disclaimer****- I DON'T own Bleach or anything having to do with Bleach… except this story line... that was ALL me. XD lol **

**GO ULQUIORRA!! U ROCK!!**

**Pain**

**(A.k.a. Painful Memories)**

The ground was cold… that was all Orihime could think as Grimmjaw's massive body crashed on top of her. As the blue-haired Espada had tackled her everything had gone completely silent and the world went into slow-mo for Orihime. But as her head collided with the icy hard floor, images flashed and sound blared to life in a single instant along with a massive headache.

The sound of a sword sinking itself into flesh echoed in the hall then the half-conscious Orihime was haphazardly flung across the floor until she hit the wall. Pain sliced through her head and everything went silent for a second time, then everything blacked out for a split second before slamming back to life and stabbing needles into her head.

Ignoring the pain she forced open her eyes searched for something, anything familiar. Two black blurs were constantly appearing and reappearing in the room and she wished she knew who they were. A man with blue hair was lying on the ground with a scythe-like sword jutting out of his back and the shinigami girl knew that she should know him, she knew he was somehow important but she couldn't recall why. Wait… she couldn't remember anything!

Orihime stumbled to her feet and searched franticly around herself for something she recognized. Where was she? What were these monsters flashing around her with swords? Who was the tall skinny man, who she noticed looked like he was wearing a spoon, and why was he looking at her like he owned her?

With a quick and yet somehow malicious yank, the tall man ripped his sword out of the blue man's spine. The man's head shot in the air as he let out a blood-curdling scream of pain. But the poor man's scream was cut short as he was promptly bashed over the head with the butt-end of the scythe-sword, and he went unconscious.

Orihime's attention snapped up from the bloodied man on the floor and up to the spiteful gaze of the evil scythe man as he stepped over his victim and started toward her. Orihime may not remember more then her own name and some other random things but she DID know that this man was bad and it was time to get the heck out of here!

Orihime turned and blindly ran toward the giant whole in the wall. She stumbled repeatedly in her mad dash because she kept looking back at the man slowly following her with an evil glint in his eyes and dragging the tip of his sword on the ground, giving her the feeling that no matter how far or fast she ran she would never escape him.

Just as she reached the top of a large boulder and jumped down, a hand shot out of no where and seized her ankle, dragging her down to the ground…

* * *

Deep in the dark corners of ichigo's mind sat a monster. He was watching, waiting, and planning. Soon, very soon, it would his time to escape. He couldn't wait to get his revenge on all those who had helped imprison him inside of a do-gooder, weakling like Ichigo Kurosaki.

His power was virtually unlimited and yet the shinigami was weak and refused his help time and time again. This time he would have no choice but to let him out. He would beg for his darker side to come out. To smite his enemies and do everything that his weaker self, his good self, could not manage on its own.

Yes, the time was close… he could feel freedom getting closer each second that they spent in the birthplace of all hollows. Ichigo had made a deathly mistake coming here again. And now that the fool had engaged into battle with one of the most powerful Espada, it would only be a matter of time before he would need his hollow side's power to succeed… and that's when he would lose this battle they fought over control of his body.

Then once he finally has control of Ichigo's body he will discard it and find a more suitable body to hold his power. Or better yet he'll destroy the shinigami's body but keep his soul captive inside of his new and improved body. Then he'd finally have his revenge and Kurosaki would understand what he had been put through all these years… he would finally be free… and no one would refer to him as "hollow ichigo" or "Ichigo's hollow side". No, they would call him by HIS name-ZANG- and nothing more or less! Yes... very soon the name Zang will strike fear into the hearts of all... and the name Ichigo would be nothing but a memory...

All that was needed now was someone on the outside to help him escape, and since foolish Ichigo had brought him to the center of all hollow life, it wouldn't be to hard to find a strong enough and willing enough person perfect for the job of freeing a monster onto earth, infact he already had the perfect person picked out...

* * *

The last thing that past through Gin's mind as he was randomly, and more than a little violently, grabbed by the front of his kimono and yanked INSIDE a tree. He had no idea it was even possible to go inside a tree, let alone that they could also grow human arms and kidnap random, and not to mention COMPLETELY innocent shinigami... _ok may not the innocent part but seriously, whose keeping track?_

But what Gin saw as he was yanked into this Tree Of Death was definitely not what he had been expecting. He had thought maybe it would be a hollow or some other grotesque minion of Aizen's, coming to bring him back to Hueco Mundo, but it was the exact opposite of that. It was his beautiful angel, Rangiku-kun.

Gin had finally got her back that day he had decided to come here in disguise and he didn't intend to let her go anytime soon. He had wore his special cloak that made him invisible to all except those who were looking for him, and he stealthfully walked right into the soul society and left her a note on the sake bottle sitting in her empty room. As an after thought maybe leaving a note visible to every nosey person on the street hadn't been one of his brighter ideas, but what else could he do, Tap on her shoulder and say-

"Hi Rangiku. Yes, i know the last time u saw me i was an evil killer, who was bent on taking over the world, but i got tired of the whole 'World Domination' thing and decided to come back to this side. Oh, and by the way, no hard feelings for getting all those people killed and leaving u behind without explaining anything, right?"

Ok Gin might not have been the sharpest knife in the shed, infact he was more like a spoon sometimes, but he knew that would not have gone well. Luckily everything had gone better than he had ever hoped. Rangiku, of course, had been mad at him at first but she never could hold a grudge very well so she forgave him and they met every few days after that. But best of all was that she not only forgave him but found others wouldn't turn him in and they joined him and Rangiku in their plan to break Orihime and Ulquiorra out!

The big-breast Vice Captain wrapped him in a giant oxygen-smothering hug and hoped up and down happily, "Gin I'm SO glad you made it out! You will not believe how many were willing to help us! I got CAPTAINS Gin CAPTAINS! Ukitake, Shunsui, Mayuri, Toshiro- (of course), the knew captain... i cant remember his name right now but whatever!"

Gin's jaw almost fell off in surprise, " R-Rangiku! You're a genius! H-How- W-when- HOW!?" Gin stuttered and suddenly he was overwhelmed with the desire to grab her right then and there and kiss her until she passed out from air loss.

Rangiku suddenly stopped jumping and stood perfectly still as she looked into Gin's rarely opened eyes. "Ichi-kun? W-wha--" she started to ask but she never finished because at that very moment Gin's mouth covered her's and silenced all words.

At first Rangiku was so shocked she didn't react, Gin took that as a sign that she didn't want him and he pulled away, hurt, and began to apologize, but this time he was silenced as she wrapped her arms around him and returned his kiss with even more emotion than he had.

Tentatively at first his arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer. Rangiku jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist moaning into his mouth and pulling him closer. Gin's eyes snapped open in surprise at her reaction but he loved her and where this was going too much to ask questions.

Pulling her closer Gin backed her up against a wall and matched her wild kisses with his own. Gin felt her cool fingers against his skin as she slid his cloak and kimono off his shoulders and then lightly scratched her nails down his chest. Hot breath touched Rangiku's neck as Gin nibbled and licked his way down her her throat to her breasts.

"Rangiku… I've been so blind..." he whispered, his breath hot against her ear as his hand slipped inside her kimono and massaged her breasts, "I've been blind to what really matters… Aizen, the Hougyokou, none of them are really what's important. "

The fiery haired vice captain pulled back slightly to look at her life long friend, "Gin… why are you telling me this now?" she said as her eyes began to fill with moisture, "Why couldn't you have figured this out sooner? We wasted so much time… caused so many to lose they're lives, and for what? A mad-man's dream to rule he world." She finished a little coldly.

Gin looked away from her, ashamed and hurt, because it was the truth, "Rangiku I can't change the mistakes I have done. I'm doing all that I can to try and fix them and… and I just hope that you can forgive me for all the things I've wronged you." he finished looking her straight in the eyes, bearing his heart to her, giving her the power to crush it or save his soul.

Very gently Rangiku lifted her and to his face. She delicately traced his jaw line with her index finger then let her hand slide down to rest on his shoulder as she continued to look him in the eyes, completely silent with a complex expression.

Desperate for her to understand Gin tried to explain everything he had done, "Rangiku, I never wanted to betray you. Aizen slowly manipulated me, telling me all the good sides of his plan and twisting things so that they made sense! I-I swear if I had known how far he was willing to go with this, and how many people he was willing to hurt I would have never—"

Once again he was cut off mid-sentence as Rangiku gently covered his lips with her own, "Gin, if I hadn't already forgiven you then I wouldn't be here with you, like this, now…" then she added with one of her mocking smiles, "and besides we don't have time to hear you list off everything you've done wrong, we have to go meet the others and get this war on the road!"

And with that Rangiku slipped down out of his arms and back onto her own feet. Hastily she fixed her top and put Gin's cloak back on his shoulders then she grabbed his arms and dragged him down the secret corridor and toward two of the biggest doors he'd ever seen in his life.

_A War…? …Oh lord, what have I done…?_

* * *

_Damn…! _Ulquiorra cursed Ichigo's hot-headedness as he fended off yet another attack from Zangetsu. _At this rate his going to get us both killed! _He realized as he was slammed through several pillars. _Because of Aizen I'm not at my full strength, I can barely manage to stay materialized without this fool attacking me at almost full power! Damn his foolishness! Grimmjaw is out, that shinigami girl- didn't Orihime called her Rukia? - Is wounded, probably from that explosion earlier. And on top of it all, that sadistic bastard Noitora is after his precious Orihime, and because of this IDIOT he could get close enough to help her!_

The former Espada watched helplessly as his love was slammed against the wall. Once again he tried to dash toward her but was cut off as Ichigo repelled him with another burst from his zanpakto. Ulquiorra cursed his weakness, and stared on as she stumbled to her feet looking wildly around herself. - _Is she hurt? - _The place where his heart should have been ached at the thought of her being in pain because of his weakness.

Desperately, Ulquiorra seeked outside of his own mind, looking for another, by sensing they're spiritual pressure, to protect her when he could not –

Grimmjaw was conscious but his spinal cord had been severed be Noitora's attack and now he lay helpless as Orihime ran for her life.

Rukia had been badly wounded to her head by the explosion and was barely functioning after the shock of an attack.

Orihime, his precious Orihime, was a mass of confusion and fright. She was suffering from head trauma after being thrown into that wall.

Reluctantly he left her mind and searched wider out into the halls of Las Noches. Lower level arrancar were fleeing the palace while others were stealing what they could. The spiritual pressure of a Quincy burned brightly in the direction of the lower ranked arrancar's training grounds. While another, which he expected to be the one Inoue called Chad, was near the spires fighting what seemed to be Yammy.

_Damn…_ he cursed again. _None of them would be of assistance! Forgive me Inoue… _he whispered as began to pull his senses back. Suddenly just as he was about to close his mind off from his surroundings he felt the another being of high spiritual power. They had almost completely blocked off their rietsu form being able to be sensed, in order to hide themselves form others who may have been searching for them, and that's why Ulquiorra hadn't felt it before.

The spiritual pressure was of immense strength almost surpassing his own. Who was this person? It definitely was one of the Espada; Ulquiorra would have recognized that immediately, so that meant it ether had to be from the soul society or another of Aizen's minions that he hadn't known about.

Ulquiorra haphazardly deflected another reckless attack from his opponent and shot a burst of cero in his direction, trying to distract him long enough to get a message out to the stranger.

Risking losing his solid body and having to revert back into his mask shard, the former fourth Espada fazed out, making himself immune to attacks, and threw all the spiritual pressure he could spare at his last chance to save Orihime. Almost immediately Ulquiorra unfazed and was struck threw his chest and pinned to a wall. All of that power was drained from his imprisonment… he had just used what was left to get help for Inoue. There was nothing more he could do…

Ulquiorra's lifeblood drained onto the floor as Ichigo pinned him and struggled to maintain control over his hollow side. Weakly the arrancar lifted his hand and watched as it slowly became less and less real. _I'm fading… _he realized and he gave a vain attempt to pull zangetsu out of his chest while casting one last longing look for Orihime.

A sigh escaped Ulquiorra's obsidian lips as he became almost invisible. His mind began to wander back; back to a time without this pain… and loss. He knew loss more than most and he had hoped that, in death, it would pass. But he had been wrong, so very wrong…

**Flashback**

The castle had been breeched- the spires were aflame. _Where is she? _Mothers and their children were fleeing from death as their homes were razed to the ground. _Where is she?_ People he had known since birth; sisters, brothers, friends, and family, were being cut down with cold steel as he ran past them, searching as his heart slowly began to fall apart from the pain of losing them. _Where is she? _

He choked on ash and soot as bodies and houses alike were burned._ Please be safe…_ Mothers groveled at his feet, as he ran by; sword in hand. They begged him to take their babies with him, to save them; but Ulquiorra already knew their end, and where he was going was no better. _Please be safe…_

Kicking down a burning door he dashed into the castle, running and running and running… _Wait for me… _he implored, although he knew she could not hear him. A scream rang out, calling his name, as he heard the enemy come closer. _Wait for me… I am coming!_

Ruthlessly he slashed his blade, slaying a man with one hit. _Forgive me…_ he whispered to God as he took yet another life that night. He saw a flash of red as a door slammed shut ahead of him. _I'm here!_ He shouted in his mind and aloud for his love to hear.

Immediately the door swung back open to reveal a beautiful red-haired woman wearing a torn and dirtied white gown. She ran to him and embraced him in a rib-shattering hug, kissing his face all over despite the dirt and grim that war had left.

He wrapped a strong arm around her waist and turned them around so they could leave the way he had come._ No… _the way was barred. Flames engulfed the entire hall and slowly it began to crumble from the heat.

_Ulquiorra…? _She whimpered in fear next to him as she tugged at his arm pulling him toward the door behind them. She knew as well as he did that it lead to a balcony… they had only a few precious seconds left of their life together…

She was a princess and he was her royal guard. They were forbidden from each other but they didn't care, they had loved each other since they had met at the age of 14. He'd sworn to protect her at all costs and she had given him her heart. She had been betrothed to a prince from the nearby country, but her heart had remained mine.

Today- on the day of her wedding she had slipped away from her dress maids and gone to my quarters. There they had stripped away her wedding gown and forsaken everything to make love; while the prince was left standing at the alter, alone.

Furious, he had stormed home to his king and secretly gathered his troops. On this same day just as the sun had fell, he attacked. Immediately I ordered her to go to the throne room, she had fought me; begging me to come with her, but I knew that I had already caused this kingdom more pain than it deserved.

We were unprepared and they took us quickly. They burned our entire kingdom, including all of the small villages surrounding it… and now they were trapped. Everything was gone now…

Ulquiorra rushed to the edge of the balcony and looked over the edge. The soldiers had all but left. _Most likely to search for more things to destroy... _He thought morbidly. Then something caught his attention form the corner of his eye. _A LADDER! _He realized in shock. _A storekeeper must have left it out because of the attack! _

Quickly he picked up his fiery haired princess and set her on the ladder telling her to go. She took one quick glance at the flames licking closer and closer to his back and she quickly descended so he wouldn't burn.

But just as he reached the bottom a horseman raced by and saw them. Without delay he had yanked his horse back and dismounted un sheathing his sword and approaching them. Ulquiorra screamed at her to run, but she refused to leave him and tried to climb back up with tears in her eyes.

Ulquiorra watched as the man walked up and grabbed her by her long red hair, yanking her onto the ground and slashing the ladder in half with his blade. She screamed in pain as she crashed into the dirt. Hopelessly she tried to stagger to her feet and reached a feeble hand out toward the balcony as she stained the ground with her tears and blood. _Ulquiorra! _She cried his name as the flames caught at his clothes and he smelled burnt flesh.

Brutally the man grabbed her once again and put the tip of his blade to her back. Ulquiorra couldn't feel anything the moment the soldier's helmet fell to the ground. The prince's vengeful eyes had locked with his own as he had smiled cruelly shoved his sword through her back and into her heart.

Her eyes snapped wide open in pain then slowly they began to close as she looked at him; a slightly peaceful expression on her face as she used her dieing strength to reach her hand out to him once again and speak for the last time… _I regret nothing… Ulquiorra, my love… please know this…_

Then she went slack and the prince wrenched his sword out of her, kicking her away as he mounted his horse again. He gave one last malicious smile to Ulquiorra, then spurred his horse away.

Ulquiorra had burned… His soul had burned and raged into an endless inferno as he had died; completely unaware of any pain except loss. His soul had never been pure after that. He died and willing became a hollow… her soul was gone and he couldn't take it.

One after another he hunted down each and every one of the prince's soldiers- starting with the prince himself. He had mercilessly devoured their souls and ripped apart their bodies, until one kill ran into another and he couldn't tell one soul from the other… after centuries of killing no one could stop him… and yet still only one word had mattered to him; one name; one person… Ivory …

**Flashback End**

He was a monster and he knew it, each time he killed someone, he lost another part of who he had once been. Ulquiorra was the perfect killing machine and yet he couldn't make himself want to take it back. All he could do was _feel_, all he could do was _hate_ and devour everything and everyone around him.

So he had done the only thing he could— he had ceased feeling anything at all… no happiness, no sorrow, no envy, no pain, but most importantly he had no longer felt hatred. He had no longer needed to kill everything around himself… and that's how he had become the way he was… well the way he had been, the way before he had met Her…

Everything he had done… all those he had killed… he had done it all for Ivory. And now hundreds of years later he had finally found love again. They were them same, and yet they were so different at the same time. Ivory had been meek and never harmed anything no matter the circumstances, while Orihime on the other hand was bubbly and willing to do anything to help her friends.

Was it possible to love two different people so strongly? What would Ivory think of him if she knew he loved another?

All of these thought rushed through Ulquiorra's mind as he felt himself being pulled back into the black abyss of E'cel.

_You were right, my beloved Ivory… I feel regret for nothing… If I had to go back to your death… I would do everything the same… I am a monster, but I have found someone who can look past it all and see what you saw in me… who I really am… who I was meant to be… my only regret is my failure to save those few who mattered to me…Ivory… Orihime… forgive me…_

* * *

**OK that's the end of chapter… umm… 13 I think? -.- yes I know its sad- I don't even know how many chapters I have… *sighs* this chapter took FOREVER to write! I could barely feel my fingers when I finished! At first I had some serious writers block but half-way through the gin/Rangiku scene its like it exploded and I couldn't stop writing! Lol this chapter went deeeeeeeeeeep into Ulquiorra's subconscious and revealed how he really thinks now that he has his emotions back and working again.**

**And yes ichigo IS about to explode and spray small chunks of disaster all over the walls. Zang is ticked off and he wants out of ichigo's mind NOW! lol how will he accomplish this? And who is the lucky (or unlucky) person who gets to help him? Could it maybe be the same person who Ulquiorra begged (yes begged) to save Orihime? **

**Ok im not saying all of these things just to be cruel and make u wonder ok? I just don't want you to give up on my story just because I'm a tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinie bit slow on updating…**

**PS—review your butts off please ^_^ I need all the encouragement I can get! **

**(Mostly the only reason I wrote this much is because of the few people who did review and ask for more chapters.)**

**-MiMi 3**


	14. Mind Games

**OK heres my new plan! I have three major storys gloing so this is how its gonna go-- each month is going to be devoted to writng one story. this means that i will only be updating one every three months.. maybe faster than that but i'm going to try and make that my max amount of time.**

**pleeeeeeeeeeease tell me what u think about this chapter and how i might be able to improve my characters. And THANK YOU to the person who pointed out that it was Grimmjow and not Grimmjaw!! ;) sadly i didnt read that review until i was basicly down with this chapter so if i used his name anywhere is probably wrong.. lol**

**Disclaimer- I dont own bleach, any of its characters, or anything else they made up... its kinda sad isnt it ;( lol**

* * *

Byakuya stared at the metal hairpiece that was the mark of the Kuchiki family. It glinted silver in the light, as if it was daring his master to leave it behind. _Click. _With a blank face he stepped away from his nightstand and placed the key inside his dresser. He didn't actually think anyone would try to steal it, but he'd been wrong about people before. _Damn that Aizen._ He thought bitterly. _And damn that Ichigo for dragging my Rukia into this. He should know that she would follow wherever he led no matter the price to her health._

After checking that his sword was firmly in place, the captain descended from the sort-of-secret attic where he slept, his face bearing a detached expression that concealed the inner-turmoil that raged inside of him. Once again, he was breaking his oath and going against the head-captain's wishes in order to save his beloved wife's sister. Yet again he was forced to choose between, the family he loved and protected, and the society that kept the world in balance. And for the second time Byakuya hoped against hope, that he was making the right choice, and wasn't just playing into another of Aizen's plans.

The Kuchiki calmly walked straight forward, and through the false wall that masked the entrance to his quarters. If his guess was correct Byakuya would be just barely on time; if he left now. Surely if he was late they would wait? They needed every man they could get in order for the raid to work. Yes, they would wait. They couldn't afford not to.

Just as Byakuya reached for his door, it crashed open as if a massive wind had caught it, and one of the lower ranked seats of his squad almost smashed into him. Her short shoulder-length hair was a disaster and her dread-filled russet eyes were darting everywhere nervously, he was presuming, from her rush to get here. The clipboard-looking communicator that was clutched in her hands with a death grip was almost flung across the room as she tried to dodge him at the last second.

Skilled as he was, Byakuya dodged her before they collided and caught the panicking girl by the arms, ceasing her wild dash. Her eyes locked onto his face and relief flooded her expression as she almost shoved the clipboard into his hands and hit the green button on the front, causing the screen turn on and reveal the head of medical the staff waiting anxiously.

"Sir, there's been an emergency!" she huffed.

The look on the medic's face was like a knife in Captain's heart, but he refused to let his expression change, as his worst fear was realized.

"Captain Kuchiki!" he almost shrieked as sweat ran down from his jet-black hair and soaked his tattooed face. He leaned closer to the screen in a desperate attempt to get his superior's attention hastily. "The patients you ordered us to monitor have dropped into almost critical condition! The 'DarkKnight' is exceeding his body's limits and he is literally close to disintegration, the 'TheArm' is drastically losing his strength and barely still alive, 'AceArcher' is nearing his limits and can't take much more before he becomes just like the others… a-and, Sir, the 'TwinDove' has had a major head wound that may have caused serious damage! You must hurry, Sir, there's not much time!"

_Smash!_

The clipboard shattered on the ground as Byakuya dashed to the secret meeting place. This was it. They had waited to long. They were out of time and they were losing their only hope to win the war.

* * *

The familiar sound of cold hard steel sliding back into its scabbard, reassured Toshiro as he strapped a small arsenal of knifes and throwing stars to his body. He usually never used any other weapon other then his precious Hyouinmaru, but this time was different. If he made a mistake this time around, he'd most likely end up dead.

It'd been almost a year since Aizen had betrayed and destroyed the lives of Momo, himself, and everyone he had come into contact with. And since then the bastard had gone as far as to kidnap one of the reiyoka, the kind-hearted girl that had healed so many of the wounded during the battle. Orihime didn't deserve what she got, and from what he'd heard her captor was a total emotionless ass.

As the captain reached under his desk to grasp the dagger taped beneath it, but accidentally grabbed the blade and cut his hand, drawing blood. The child prodigy didn't even flinch at the wound and an exasperated sigh escaped before he could stop himself as he stared at the small wound. _Was everything going to go wrong today? _First he had been harassed by Rangiku to make a hypothetical battle plan for invading Las Noches, then Momo had gone into another one of her fits over him still hating Aizen, after that Rangiku and come back and somehow dragged him into a raiding squad that was going in after Orihime. _And to add to everything else damn Gin is leading the raid! … Lucky, fuking, me. _He thought morbidly.

The young captain slid his sword and sheath over his head and onto his back, putting it in its usual place, then he stared at the door leading out of his office and into a place that was worse then hell. Taking a deep breath he gripped the thin door and slid it open, quickly gauging what time it was by the position of the sun._ Humph… I'm late- I'm never late… I was supposed to be there by now. Knowing Rangiku she probably thinks I've changed my mind or am rating out her raid-party. _A small smirk touched his mouth at the thought of his vice-captain, but it disappeared it as quickly as it had come. _This isn't the time for happy memories; he planned on killing a man tonight. A man that was vile and evil in everyway possible, but in doing so he would be killing a part of the woman he loved… was there no middle ground? Was there no way to end Aizen and still keep her trust intact?_

Toshiro shook his head at the dilemma. There really was no way around it. _Aizen has to die and Momo will have to live with that fact._

As he used his incredible speed to disappear and make his way to the meeting place, but first he needed to stop someplace important… Toshiro felt deep in his soul that someone was going to lose something tonight. Something precious to them, and there was nothing anyone could do about it…

A grim thought came to his mind. It was something he had always been taught to believe in, no matter how hollow it made things seem…

_~There is always a price in life. In order to gain, something must be lost…the real test is knowing what your willing to fight for and what your willing to lose in order to get it~_

* * *

Renji Abarai paced back and forth in a tall round room, filled with a small gathering of soul reapers. They had been waiting for ten minutes already! They should be on their way by now! Suddenly Renji stopped in his tracks and fixed his agitated gaze on the quiet Kisuke Urahara sitting beside him. The shopkeeper was calm and sitting against the wall with one leg bent and his arm resting on it. His head was leaned back against the wall, while his hat covered his face as he supposedly tried to sleep.

"Where are they?" he shouted in frustration for, at least, the tenth time. " We were suppose to be walking through that gate right now; we should be halfway there! For all we know Ichigo and the others could be DEA—"

"RENJI!" Rangiku barked as she glared at him, then turned her attention to Mr. Hat N' Clogs. "Kisuke, Open the gate. We can't afford to wait anymore. I just got a message from Byakuya's hell butterfly saying that Ichigo and the others are getting they're asses kicked and we need to get there fast if we want them to live."

Before he was even to his feet, spiritual pressure exploded from his body. Urahara slammed his sword into the ground the first instant he got, and energy coursed through his body to create the portal. Power slashed around them in the form of lightning and a wind came out of nowhere as a black hole formed in the floor.

Mayuri stepped forward first with a bland expression as he nodded toward his former commander and disappeared inside the vortex. Kenpachi dove in seconds after him, leaving an evil cackle behind as a pink blur streaked after him giggling cutely. Several others plunged into the black abyss, a mass of white and black blurs, until only Rangiku, Gin, and Urahara were left.

Rangiku looked to Gin, the same question was in his gaze that was in her mind. _Where was Toshiro?_

"We have to go, Rangiku." Gin whispered, "I need you to lead the attack and we cant affords to wait for him."

"B-But… Taichou promised that he'd be here." She said with big eyes and a stern face. "He never goes back on his word, something must have happened." She started to turn away from the portal but was stopped as a hand gripped her arm.

"You don't have the time." A dark gaze met her own as Kisuke stared her down, " Go. Now." He commanded, but then added a little softer. "I'll wait here for him. If he's here within ten minutes, I'll open the gate and bring him with me, if not I'll have to leave him behind."

Reluctantly the vice-captain nodded and gestured Gin to follow as she jumped into the gateway. _It is time for war. Taichou will make it some way or another… he just will, he has to._

* * *

_Oh boy, am I gonna get it when I get home_. Daria cringed to herself as yet another fellow Arrancar ran past her and out of Las Noches.

_You just had to go in there didn't you, Mistress?_ A dark masculine voice snapped at her._ I told u it wasn't smart, but you never listen to me when it counts now do you?_

_All right, all right. I get it Hikaru. You were right and I was wrong. Happy now? _Daria was panicking and was definitely not in the mood to be criticized right now. _Can you please just help me find another way out of here? I promise you can lecture me for as long as u want when we get home._

_What ever pleases you Mistress… Take a left after this next door. _Hikaru's dark humor washed over her mind as he, once again, called her by her pet name that he'd come up with barely a day after she'd unlocked her power and released him.

_You know I hate it when you call me that. _She said a little grouchily, and took a sharp left turn, barely swerving out of the way in time to miss, yet another, arrancar fleeing for his life.

_Ah, but your heart says different, my lil' liar._ _You know you love it; I feel your stomach get butterflies every time I say it. _He said a little smugly, as she realized once again that he was right.

_Hikaru, how many times have I told u to stay out of my mind! You keep your thoughts to yourself and I'll keep mine. _She huffed in exasperation._ Y-You make me want to strangle you some days!_ Daria was blushing as she ran down the hall, her feet not making the slightest sound on the granite floor. As she reached the end, Daria halted in front of a rather small door with a mirror on it. _Hmm ... where could this lead? _she wondered.

_How can you expect me to stay out of your mind? I live in it to, ya know. _He pointed out._ And besides, its so interesting to see the things you picture doing to me. _A masculine laugh echoed through her mind as her face flashed crimson in the mirror.

_That was ONE time! I was hallucinating and you know it! _Daria's embarrassed expression greeted her as she looked into the mirror on the door looking for a way through. She stared at her violet eyes and her fair skin was blushing a bright red. Hastily the girl shook her head so that her long hot-pink highlighted blonde hair would cover her mortified expression. She'd hoped that he hadn't seen that particular dream, and when he hadn't said anything she'd thought he hadn't saw it. Then Suddenly a thought struck her.

If Hikaru hadn't been distracting her that night on her way home, then that hollow wouldn't have surprised her, then she would have never gotten poisoned with that stinger and started hallucinating in the first place! _It was your fault! _She said defensively.

_I don't see why you're over reacting about this. It wasn't all that bad of a fantasy. _He said a little disinterestedly._ And will you please let me check that out before you open it? _He huffed, just as she was about to pry open the mirrored door with her fingertips._ There's probably a reason that it has no doorknob. Who knows what's on the other side..._

She felt his presence leave her mind before she could even reply to his 'fantasy' remark. _It wasn't a fantasy! _She shouted in her mind even though he was already gone. _I was hallucinating! Hallucinating!_

A tall, slender, and solidly muscled man appeared beside her. Daria had to admit, Hikaru was anything but ugly. He had a tan that made him darker than most, singling him out from every other hollow in Hueco Mundo and the long black hair that glinted midnight blue in the light, flowed to the small of his back, and was tied into a ponytail at the base of his neck. But the things that amazed her most about him were his glacier-blue eyes, sharp fangs, and slender pointed ears that tied his entire appearance together, and gave him an almost demonic look.

_Dang him for being so interesting, why couldn't he be butt-ugly like every other creature here? Why does he have to be the the hottest guy I-_ Immediately she stopped herself from continuing that line of thought. _He could have heard me! _She said as she panicked a little but then calmed down as she realized that he could have possibly heard her.. _I'm so lucky he isn't in my head anymore._

"Nice blush." He said with a snarky and egotistic attitude as he flashed his fangs at her in a smile.

Turning a whole new shade of red, Daria refused to look at him. _Don't.. look. If you do he'll use that stupid smile to make you blush even more! Look at the mirror Dara, nothing but the mirror._

"I'm just playing with you, jeez" He finished, then added sarcastically. " I'm_ sooo_ sorry to have offended you, my _Mistress_. I'll just do what I said I would and go back inside that pretty-little head of yours."

"And you'd better stay outta my mind, this time_."_ She muttered under her breath.

Very carefully Hikaru knelt in front of the door and passed his ghost like hand through it, after a few moment of groping around in the blackness he seemed to find what he was looking for. He smirked at her, his fangs flashing white in the dim light, and he withdrew his hand holding a small orb filled with a sickeningly green goo, in his hand.

"Aren't you so glad I decided to check?" his smug attitude jumped up to a whole new level as he saw the grudging expression on her face. "If you'd forced open the door like you were this would have ripped open and splattered all over you, melting you into a little puddle, and successfully killing both of us."

Daria continued to stare at the floor, if she saw his smug expression she'd probably smack him right then and there. Who cares if he was right? He didn't have to rub it in. But just as she was about to say something Hikaru's hand was suddenly on her chin, his pointed nails slightly stinging her though she knew he didn't mean to._ Oh that's the other thing that intrigues me about him, his claws. They made him seem so wild and made her feel like he might snap ravenge her any second... wait.. ravenge? Did i seriously just think that?!_

Daria slowly met his stern gaze as he leaned close to her. "You need to think more Dara. You could have seriously hurt yourself because of this carelessness. You can't expect me to catch every mistake."

Guilt swept over the half-arrancar girl as she grasped how badly that could have turned out, but then she thought about what he said. _H-He called me Dara…he never calls me that, only Natalia does… does that mean he was actually worried about me? _She looked away from his accusing gaze and toward the two small hoop earrings on the tip of his ear. Daria had always wondered if that was what was left of his mask, or if he didn't have anything left of it because of his position as being her zanpakto spirit.

Without even realizing it she reached out a hand and stroked the thin rings curiously. Hikaru's ear twitched in surprise and Dara immediately snatched her hand back as she tried to fight the blush that was attacking her face. He looked at her quizzically, as if he was seeing a whole new side of her.

_Oh god! Why did I do that? _She thought wildly. _He's never gonna let me live that one down! Please let the world explode now and stop him from asking why I did that! I don't even know why I did that, and IM the one who did it!_

Hesitantly Hikaru opened his mouth to say something but stopped. Instantly Daria knew something was wrong._ He's hesitating. Why is he hesitating? Hikaru NEVER hesitates! Oh my gosh! I must have really freaked him out! He probably thinks I'm insane!_

In the few months since he'd awakened Daria had always known Hikaru to be sure of himself. He had never been the shy or uncertain type; he'd always taken charge of the situation when she'd been unsure of her strength. If it hadn't been for his arrogant and self assured nature they'd have perished when she had been ambush by a hollow with Natalia no where in sight.

Abruptly her thoughts were cut short as Hikaru pinned her to the wall with his body. Shock ripped through Daria and she struggled to get free, but he easily held her down as if her attempts were as effective as a slight breeze.

"Stop it! Let go! H-Hikaru what do you think you're do-!" His hand clamped over her mouth and he pressed his legs against hers, successfully halting her wild kicking. While he held both her wrists in his hand and held them above her head against the wall, stopping her mid-punch.

The ex-hollow gripped her wrists tighter and held them against the wall while she struggled to free them. "SHH! Are you trying to get us caught!?" his hot breath hissed into her ear then he nodded toward the giant hole in the wall a few feet to their right.

_How long had that been there?_ She thought as she stared at the dust and debris floating around her.

"W-W-When…?" she whispered as she stared.

"I pushed us outta the way just in time, you were freaking out so that's probably why you didn't notice it… and I'm betting He did it." Hikaru answered her as he nodded toward the thin figure in white holding a scythe.

"…Noitora…" She whispered in horror as he let his hand fall from her mouth. "We have to get out of here… NOW" she whimpered franticly.

Hikaru nodded and took her hand, leading her farther into the shadows. "There are a couple of people down there. One of them is strong, seriously strong." He moved so that I could look past him and see for myself, "Look, I think that's the one they call 'Ichigo'. He's the one who broke in here the last time remember?"

"Do you think he's back for that girl that Ulquiorra brought in? It won't be much longer before Schiffer-kun comes and deals with him." Biting her bottom lip with worry Daria took a step forward trying to see if the girl was in there with them. "We met her once remember, 'Karu? When we snuck in last time and she saw us she distracted Yammi so we could get out, remember?"

Grabbing her hand and pulling her back down into the shadows Hikaru looked at Daria with an uncompromising stare. "You mean when YOU snuck in here, i told you not too! And we are not going in there Dara, do you hear me?" then he frowned at her and poked her chest with his finger causing his claw to prick her skin, " And don't call me 'Karu! I hate it when you call me by pet names! It's degrading!" His hissed.

"I'll stop calling you 'Karu, as soon as you stop calling me your 'Mistress'!" she snapped back, mocking his voice, her voice barely a whisper any more.

Hikaru frowned at her, "You know wha-!"

"**Shunshunrika PROTECT!"**

Immediately both their attentions snapped toward the sudden battle cry and they were both flooded my several immense spiritual pressures. The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Daria stared in shock as Ulquiorra appeared out of nowhere and blocked Noitora's attack, saving the shinigami's girls life.

The smell of blood filled her heightened senses as Ulquiorra's hand was sliced to the bone before an orange shield could appear and stop the blade. Daria turned to look at Hikaru but he was gone. Shock swept through her body as she stared at the open space next to her. For the first time since he had awakened, Hikaru wasn't by her side. _H-He's g-gone…_

_Don't go and panic on me again! Calm down, I came back into your body so that its less likely they see us. Besides, I can't leave remember? I'm literally a part of you, its not like I can just run off because I feel like it. _Relief swept through her as she felt his exasperated presence in her mind.

Before Dara could stop herself from hugging him tightly and think of a comeback instead, the familiar blood-curdling shriek of a hollow shook the room and coursed through her body. _And I think that's our queue to leave._ Karu chimed but Daria barely heard him as she felt a huge spiritual pressure pulling at her own. It beckoned to her, whispering of imprisonment and requesting freedom. Eyes glazed over, she staggered to her feet in a trance. Vaguely Daria could hear someone calling her name but the dark voice was louder, it was filling her senses, telling her exactly what she needed to do to release it.

Taking slow calculated steps, she reached the top of the stairs and drew her sword, letting the tip of it touch the ground as she watched the orange-haired soul reaper and observed his fighting style. She tilted her head as she analyzed him; _He relies on speed and power to over take his opponent. His kido skills are among the weakest I've ever seen…Hikaru it's time to fight._

But as Daria shattered the restraints keeping Karu back and took her first step down the stairs black flames burst in front of her and a oddly familiar shadow formed in front of her. ...He was asking for help, but not for himself... Yes, that was it; there was another that the shadow wanted her to save. An image of a kind faced girl with carrot colored hair flashed in her mind along with a name that jolted her back to reality.

"_Please save her…"_ The shadow's voice faded along with its body as the black flames receded.

Daria stared blankly at the sword in her hand for moment as the horror dawned on her mind. _What am I d-doing?_ Her zanpakto clattered to the floor as the wicked voice increased its strength and she gripped her head trying to shake the sinister voice out of her mind.

_LEAVE ME ALONE! _she screamed.

… _**no…**_

_What do you want from me!?_

… _**freedom…**_

_I can't help you!_

… _**you can and will…**_

_No! What are you? Why me? J-Just get out of my head!_

… _**What am I? I am an imprisoned soul. Why you? Simply because; you are the only one capable of what I require... I will not cease, you will separate me willingly or I will drive you mad until you do…**_

Suddenly Daria felt Hikaru's spirit engulf her and the voice's hold on her mind disappeared. Everywhere her mind probed; Karu was there. Every time she tried to reach out with her spiritual pressure, Karu was there. _Hikaru, what are-?_

_Let me handle this. _He said curtly then cut her off from the outside world once again.

… _**You think you can just make me disappear? You may be a demon but you are a weakling just like every hollow, dead soul in this place …**_

Daria felt Hikaru lash out with his rietsu in a fit of rage. _Shut your narcissistic, egocentric trap! She said she isn't helping you, so take your sadistic mind and get someone else to solve your problems!_

………… _**My, my you have a temper don't you? …**_ The voice hissed sarcastically.

_I'm sorry if, self-centered, inconsiderate things like you tend to __**piss **__**me off!**__ So I suggest you listen and get your sorry hide out before I **force** you out!!_

… _**Fine, I'll leave you be for now. But soon I think you'll find that if you want to get out of here alive, you'll need MY help… **_And with that his voice and presence completely disappeared, leaving Daria to look wildly in every direction as if he was stalking them from some shadowy corner.

_Quit freaking out. He's gone. _Hikaru sighed like he was annoyed and drew back from her mind. _Are you always going to be this meek and flighty? You've got to stop jumping at every shadow you see._

_I'm not meek! O-Or flighty! _She stuttered trying to think of something to say back. …_A-And I don't jump at shadows!_

…_Right…_

_Just shut it Hikaru! _She shouted in frustration and slammed wall down in her mind trying to block him out. She didn't have to argue with him, Orihime was in trouble and she'd saved Daria from some major ass-whooping that day. It was time to pay her back and prove Hikaru wrong.

**

* * *

**

Hey people! Long time no see… again. Lol sorry this took so long but iv been seriously busy lately! Summer sucks for me x-x.

**Ok im not that good at inventing characters … please don't bash them lol**

**-review pleeeeeeeez! I need reviews to live! Lol**

**~MiMi **


	15. Trial and Error

**I'M DONE APOLOGIZENG FOR MY LATENESS. I HAVE A LIFE SO DEAL……… don't get me wrong though... I love my readers a lot… just review please??? Btw this is a flash back people… he's unconscious and in E'cel and I wanted to write this scene to give a better description of why he's betraying Aizen and helping Orihime.**

**Disclaimer- ALL rights reserved to whom they belong... A.k.a Bleach and Breaking benjamin. **

**REVIEW PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!**

* * *

Pain was throbbing through his entire body as Ulquiorra regained consciousness. He blinked rapidly as his vision slowly cleared and he stared into the dark, at the granite floor; slowly retrieving his senses one by one.

_Where am I?_

A blaring light suddenly snapped on blinding him once again and making him jerk back in surprise just to find that his feet were chained to the floor and the sensation of falling and being unable to catch yourself was foreign to usually graceful Espada. Ulquiorra twisted futilely to get his arms under him but his skull bashed onto the edge of something hard on the way down; splitting open the side of his face and smearing fresh blood onto the floor.

_What's happening?_

Suddenly a deep voice was booming throughout the room, "Ulquiorra Schiffer, holding the title and rank of The Fourth Espada, you have been accused of Treason, Conspiring and Commingling with the enemy, Assaulting a fellow Arrancar, Threatening a commanding officer, making several unwarranted and unapproved trips to the material world and the Soul Society and finally for taking one of Aizen's prisoners outside of Las Noches' walls without permission then pursuing said prisoner with intentions unbefitting of an officer of your rank." The man paused as Ulquiorra struggled into a sitting position, blinking the blood out of his eye as he looked around the room at the many Arrancar and Espada present.

"Who is accusing me of such things? Noitora openly challenged and attacked me. I never went to the Soul Society or even had contact with any soul reapers besides the woman. I swear on my life as an Arrancar that is the truth." He answered coldly to the big-cloaked man who had read off each accusation.

Another, more elegantly dressed, Arrancar sitting in one of the many rows of jury seats looked at him snobbishly through his spectacles as he whispered to another person next to him. The much larger and more imposing Arrancar immediately stood and called down to him.

"We have records of you signing in and out of Hueco Mundo on those trips! Proof! And what of the other accusations? That prisoner of ours was not brought here to be your toy! If you want to dominate a woman so badly then go pick one of the bitches slinking around the castle and NOT one of Aizen's prisoners!"

Anger rose inside of Ulquiorra at the mention of Orihime and his spiritual pressure instantly reacted; a black wave pulsing from him causing the red markings on his skin to sear into his very soul and the chains that bound him to tighten almost to the point of snapping his wrists in two. The overwhelming pain caused Ulquiorra to double over, gagging and convulsing as his body started to go into shock and he immediately pushed his spiritual pressure almost into nonexistence in an attempt to stop the fire enveloping his soul in agony.

Without delay the pain disappeared like it had never been. Leaving Ulquiorra to collapse onto his stomach, heaving for breath as sweat dripped into his eyes, the pain so minute compared to the burns that he barely noticed it. A shadow over took Ulquiorra as he struggled to his knees determined not to bee seen this way by such trash.

His mind was numb and broken, fizzing in and out of focus so he didn't notice that Noitora had hoisted him into the air by the hair until he had already started talking.

"…can't blame him for wanting a piece of that ass." He said slyly as Ulquiorra slowly regained his footing and registered what he was saying, "I mean have you guys seen the Inoue girl? She's got massive tits that are just begging to be sucked," Ulquiorra's eyes glinted with rage as they focused on Noitora's face and he fought to hold his pressure back, "and don't even get me started on her ass, I don't think I'm alone when I say I just wanna fuck her so—"

Suddenly Ulquiorra brought his bound-fists up has hard as he could right under Noitora's jaw, breaking it and a few fingers, along with sending him tumbling onto Noitora as they crashed onto the ground. Without missing a beat Ulquiorra raised himself up and started ramming his elbow into the disgusting Espada's face, ignoring the furious outbreak of shouts around him as the others flew down to drag him away.

Yammi grabbed him before anyone else could and yanked him away from the bloody and sputtering Noitora, giving Ulquiorra just enough time to spit on what was left of his face and collapse against his captor, barely enough energy to stay adequately conscious to speak.

"Now Executioner…" he hissed with hatred and a sense of inhuman calm, "Now, you can accuse me of Assaulting that bastard…" he finished it by weakly spitting some of Noitora's blood out of his mouth, keeping a blank face, with blood soaked hands and a blood-spattered face.

Yammi grinned and shifted his weight so that the chains shackling Ulquiorra to the floor didn't dig into his ankles any more. He had always liked Ulquiorra more than any of the others, and he'd liked to think of him as a sort of companion in this cold place. It was sad that he'd fallen for the Inoue woman; he was going to miss the tough bastard's cold sense of life. And now he didn't have someone he could trust to watch his back in a fight.

Damn…

"You son of a bitch! Look what you did to my face!" Noitora gagged past the blood coating his mouth as he shoved off the people pulling him back and advanced on Ulquiorra grabbing him by the hair and kneeing him in the stomach repeatedly then finishing it by slashing him across the face.

"Noitora! That's enough!" the one named Stark grabbed him by the front of his shirt and threw him across the room with deadly purpose. He brushed his shaggy brown hair out of his face and absently brushed his hand over the giant jawbone he bore around his neck; what was left of his mask. He then looked up at the figure seated in the throne centered in the middle of all the jury bleachers.

Aizen rubbed the bridge of his nose like he was being overwhelmed with stress and slowly stood from his chair. He rubbed his neck with one hand as he made his way over to his once favorite subject. His mask of sad eyes met with Ulquiorra's cold gaze and they exchanged glances laden with secret meanings that only they would understand.

"Yammi, release him." he said without looking past Ulquiorra. Yammi complied then stepped away from his former comrade and watched as he collapsed to the floor with barely a wince.

"My son…" Aizen smiled and laid a hand on Ulquiorra's shoulder with what looked tenderness when his real feelings were altogether different, "Where did I go wrong in my teachings of you? I gave you power and authority beyond what you could have achieved on your own, and all I asked in return was obedience. Was that too high a price?" when he received no answer he continued, "Ulquiorra I counted you as one of my own and with everyone working together, through my plan, we will change the world as you know it… I will give you one last chance to give up this… _thing_ you have with the girl and the soul reapers, _if_ you return to me, to _us_." Aizen squeezed Ulquiorra's shoulder and smiled warmly, waiting for a reply.

Slowly Ulquiorra's shoulders started to tremble and a soft gravely sound escaped his lips as he shook harder. Aizen smiled in triumph and reached out his arm to help up his pet but when Ulquiorra didn't take it he paused and his smile faded.

The sound gradually increased in volume until everyone in the room could hear it clearly and they realized it wasn't whimpering or sobbing. Ulquiorra was laughing.

Aizen's expression stiffened and he let his hand drop back to his side, but before he could do so Ulquiorra's hands shot out and grabbed onto it as his head slowly lifted. His face was pale, torn, and blood spattered but his smile was as insane as his laughter and black was creeping into the whites of his eyes.

"Now's your chance to run for cover…" he hissed as the symbols on his neck turned black and they burned him to the bone, as they seared themselves into his soul.

"Because I don't want to change the world… I just want to leave it colder…"

As he said it the temperature dropped in the room and frost crept up the walls. New crimson symbols appeared on Ulquiorra's neck and seemed to spread down to his chest and up his neck but he continued as if he felt nothing.

"I'll light the fuse and burn it all…"

The ground cracked around them, black flames seeped from them, causing everyone to scatter in surprise. Everyone except Aizen; who had been expecting and hoping for this all along. The two locked gazes and time seemed to freeze between them as Ulquiorra slowly got his feet under himself and stood with as much grace as he could muster.

Aizen's eyes glinted with happiness as he got a sort of sick joy out of seeing his creation come so far. "So you have chosen?"

Ulquiorra nodded and stared his former master in the eye, "I will not bow to one such as you. I have seen the under-handed and disgusting ways that you work Aizen." He paused knowing that his body couldn't take much more and delivered his final blow…

"I will not serve a false king, Aizen, and _you_ cannot break me." The last thing he remembered was Aizen's face going white and seeing, for a split second, rage rise to the surface before it disappeared and Ulquiorra's world went black.

**

* * *

**

Short chapter I know but I've already started the next one. And I started this one yesterday so you can get an idea of how fast I write… IF I write. lol Sorry for the like 6 months of silence but yeh I have issues with my life.

**Please review… I know I torture you with my lateness but the reviews remind me and motivate me. ; D**

**I Wuv U!**

**~KiKi**

**P.s. YES I CHANGED MY NAME TO KIKI INSTEAD OF MIMI lol**


	16. Remember what?

**HOLY SH!!!!T i finished it in one day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**That entire last schapter was just ulquiorra remembering his trial while he was unconcious in E'cel.**

**i better get a LOT of reviews for this one... -.-**

* * *

**Remember what?**

Faint arguing in the next room woke Ulquiorra. He stared up at the ceiling waiting for the pain to return. But after awhile he slowly realized that it wasn't a white ceiling and the pain wasn't coming back. He quickly closed his eyes in case someone was near and stealthily moved his fingers un the thin blanket covering him, taking inventory on his injuries. When nothing happened he opened his eyes in shock and stared at his flawless skin.

…_skin…?_

Ulquiorra bolted into a sitting position throwing the sheet off to stare at his newly repaired and utterly flawless body. _This can't be… what happened? The trial… I died… We were still in Hueco Mundo weren't we? Noitora was attacking us and… t-there was a girl… Who was she? And Orihime! Oh god, where was Orihime?!_ Immediately Ulquiorra leapt to his feet and began putting his body through its paces while taking a quick look around the room.

It a small square room with white walls and a black ceiling. He had been laying on a futon in the middle of the room with the door directly at his feet and a mirror was laying on the floor to his left. Ulquiorra flexed his arms and legs, throwing a few punches in the air to see how strong this body was and was surprised to find that he was still extremely strong for having been stripped of … being Arrancar. Ulquiorra looked at his hands again, his fingernails were ether naturally black like before or had been painted that way and he was still extremely pale but other than that they looked the same.

Curious, he picked up the mirror laying on the floor and held it up to his face. His eyes widened at the face he saw reflected. His mask fragment was gone. His hair was still long and shaggy looking and he still had tear-streaks tattooed into his skin but he looked… different. His eyes were a brilliant emerald, which wasn't new but there was a certain light in them that he'd never seen before. Ulquiorra placed a hand on his cheek and wasn't completely surprised when he felt warmth instead of a chill.

"What… am I?" he whispered to himself.

Suddenly the door slid open behind him, the light flicked on and someone walked in. Ulquiorra saw a light glint off of something metal in the mirror and he immediately spun, throwing the mirror at his assailant somehow they deflected it so that it smashed into the light, showering sparks and shards of glass every where and plunging them into darkness but his new body's eyes couldn't adjust to the light that quickly. He heard the person scream and it sent a shiver through his body, it must be a woman and a shard cut her. Putting the info away in his mind he quickly advanced into blackness.

"Ulqui-!"

Out of shear instinct Ulquiorra snatched a shard out of the air and caught the door with his foot, slamming it shut while with his other hand he pushed the attacker up against the wall, holding the shard to their throat and covering her mouth.

"Who are—" Ulquiorra's eyes finally adjusted to the light and his eyes locked with a soft chocolate brown gaze that was swimming with tears. "Ori-Orihime…!?

The glass shattered onto the floor as he quickly stumbled back from her in shock. She had a thin cut down the side of her cheek that was trickling blood down to her neck and she was hold Tsubaki tightly in her grasp, barely able to contain the small sprite that was struggling to attack him. Drowning in guilty he took a step toward her and reached out and covered her cheek with his new hand, wiping the tear from her eye with his thumb as he gathered her quivering body against his.

"Orihime, oh god, Orihime! Swear if I'd known it was you I would never have…" He stopped as she pushed hard against his chest.

Ulquiorra looked down at her, wanting to see her warm happy smile again, but what he saw felt like a knife in his heart. She looked utterly blank— confused. But most of all, she looked at him like a stranger…

"Ul-Ulquiorra-sama please forgive me for the misunderstanding. I-I should have knocked before I came in. There's no need for you to… to…" she blushed a little and pressed back against the wall away from him just as the door flew open and ichigo, followed by Urahara, came storming in.

"WHAT"S GOING ON HERE!!" Ichigo's face turned almost as red as his hair when he saw the scene before him; glass everywhere, Orihime pressed back against the wall with a blood on her face, Ulquiorra's hands covered in blood.

"You son of—" he flew out of his gigai and started toward Ulquiorra sword drawn. "I knew we couldn't trust it!"

"No! Wait Ichigo!" Orihime jumped on Ulquiorra who was staring at her in a daze. Shoving him so that they stumbled back toward the opposite wall with her body shielding his. As they fell together Ulquiorra caught his princess in his arms and spun them in a circle, covering her head, just as Ichigo's sword sliced into his shoulder, spraying blood everywhere as they landed in a heap on the floor.

Pain shot through Orihime's head as it banged against the floor, her vision fizzing in and out because it was still weak from the concussion she'd had already. She blinked wildly up at the familiar man above her and suddenly she was in that strange dream she kept having since they'd barely escaped Hueco Mundo alive.

Her Knight was bleeding… his emerald eyes so familiar… so sad… he leaned over her and looked down at her with so much worry… so much love… begging her to stay with him while the clouds floated through a blue sky behind him… the sweet flowers surrounding us…not alone… a child, _ours_… _Why is he saying that? I'm not going anywhere…I wouldn't leave him…I love him…_then she closed her eyes and lifted her arms to embrace him, but her arms wouldn't work! He was on top of her, dead! She couldn't move! Couldn't breath! Darkness was closing in on her and the child was scream that scream! _No! No! Make it stop! Help! I- I can't breath, o-or move!_

Suddenly all her memories came back to her. They flooded back into her mind, showing her everything she'd forgotten, screaming for her to remember it all.

**Flashbacks** (separated by ---) **oh and these flashbacks are waaaaaaaaaay long so just read the bold if you wanna get through them fast.**

* * *

Voices from her past swirled around her in a vortex of sorrow **as she was yanked from, what used to be, her perfect world. What had gone wrong? What twisted thing had turned her dream world into a nightmare? Then out of the darkness Orihime heard a voice shouting her name.**

"**Orihime Inoue, You Are To Awaken NOW!"**

Suddenly Orihime found herself once again in her white room in Hueco Mundo. Her **twisted dream world was finally dead and gone.**

Ulquiorra was standing next to her bed, **his hands gripped her shoulders** and he was shaking her like a rag doll- **a hint of worry glinted in his eyes.**

Her **tear-filled, brown, eyes locked with his stone, cold stare**. Only **this time his eyes held a hint of emotion**. He immediately stopped shaking her so hard but retained his hold on her shoulders in case she collapsed.

"Ulquiorra? What did you just say?" Orihime asked shakily. What had he just called her? Orihime? No, he couldn't have, **he never called her by her name**.

**He slowly released her **shoulders and placed his hands back in his pockets, then stepped back from her bed, and turned toward a table that held a large array of food that hadn't been there the day before. There were **two chairs sitting across the table from each other**.

"Does it really matter? **A name is a name- nothing more."** He stopped when he reached the table and turned his head back toward her, "**Come eat**, you seemed quite tired when I came this morning so **I let you sleep in**, and took the liberty of having a dining table brought in while you did so.

Orihime sat up and looked down at herself.

"I know it didn't change into my pajama's last night." She looked at Ulquiorra nervously. Had he changed her clothes last night?

"**I checked in on you last night to find you asleep on the couch, so I moved you to your bed and sent in a servant to change you. It doesn't matter, now come eat."** He answered her impatiently and then sat down in one of the unoccupied chairs

"**You're staying?" Orihime's heart leapt hopefully** as she walked to the table and sat across from him. **He's staying!!**

* * *

"So, **Inoue, what would you like to have for lunch tomorrow?** **I will bring fruit and see what I can find that is sweet but would you like anything else?"** **he asked** as he leaned back lazily in his chair, **completely** **ignoring the lesser arrancar**.

"P-please Ulquiorra, **call me Orihime**. And I really don't mind what you bring… but it would be much appreciated if you could find something chocolate. Or **maybe ice cream?"** she asked tentatively.

"**I will make a trip to earth myself if I must, Orihime.** Is that all you ask?"

**The girl almost dropped the apple cores** she had been stacking on a tray, in surprise, and quickly apologized in a whisper. Then **she once again sent a venomous glare toward Orihime**.

Orihime didn't know what had caused his change in attitude, but **she would take what she could get.**

"**Will you be staying with me tomorrow to? I'd really enjoy your company, if you do." Her face blushed. Why did she say that?! 'He probably thinks I'm insane—or have a crush on him! Bad, Orihime, Bad! Now he'll never come!' she scolded herself mentally**

"**There's no need to ask, Orihime.** **I had planned on coming** anyway." Ulquiorra said. He hadn't thought it was possible, but he was actually beginning to enjoy her company, she was interesting to be around. He actually **couldn't wait to come back tomorrow**.

* * *

"**Servant girl, you just sentenced yourself to death with those words."**

**He picked the girl up off the ground by her hair and grabbed her by the throat**, slamming her head hard against the wall. She gasped a scream and clutched at his hand that was slowly cutting off her air supply.

**Suddenly arms wrapped around Ulquiorra from behind.**

"**P-Please don't k-kill her Ulquiorra! She d-doesn't deserve to die just because she doesn't like me!"**

"**p-please… for me Ulquiorra…" Her hands clutched at his shirt as she whispered it, her words muffled because she had her face pressed against his back.**

Ulquiorra stared at Orihime's hidden face**, entranced for the first time** in his life. He hesitated for a moment before **his grip on the girl's neck slackened**, she dropped to the floor, and scrambled out of the room, scattering trays of food everywhere along the way.

Ulquiorra **turned Orihime in his arms so that he could see the top of her head** without having to look over his shoulder. Not knowing what else to do, **he awkwardly placed one hand on her shoulder, while the other stroked her hair as she cried.**

* * *

"**I promise, Ulquiorra, I will never tell anyone about this, no matter what they do or say." Her hand squeezed his and warmth shot through him as she laughed, "Besides, if I did tell someone, I'd never get to come here with you again!"**

**They stared into each other's eyes for what seemed like a lifetime. Compelled by something she couldn't name, Orihime slowly began to close the distance between them.**

**She rolled onto her side so that she was facing him and placed her left hand next to his hip, while her other hand continued to hold his.**

**Their faces were mere inches apart now, but Ulquiorra didn't pull away. He could feel her warm breath on his face and he desperately wanted to close the small gap separating them.**

**Orihime's heart thudded at an alarming rate as she felt his lips brush against hers. She leaned farther into him in order to deepen their kiss… just as Grimmjow walked in.**

* * *

"**Ulquiorra do you or anyone else here celebrate Christmas?"**

His eyes flickered to her face nervously then returned to his book.

"**No…"** He said hesitantly._ The only one who celebrates Christmas is Noitora. _Ulquiorra thought to himself _And his idea of 'celebrating' involves inviting Grimmjaw, Stark, Yammi, Aaroniero, Zommari and even me, although I never go, and then inviting ALL the female Arrancar and trying to get laid. __**There was **_**no**_** way he was letting Orihime anywhere near there**__._

Orihime noticed how he glanced at her nervously and the way he had answered as if he wasn't telling her everything. She stood and marched up to the couch, and put her hands on her hips for dramatic effect.

"**Are you **_**lying**_** to me, **_**Ulquiorra Schiffer?"**_ **She was barely able to say it without bursting into laughter.**

Very slowly he closed his book, placed it on the floor, and stood up to his full height so that he towered over her.

Almost faster than her eyes could follow he shifted his weight to one foot, put his hands on his hips. Then he slowly looked her up and down criticizingly.

"**And what if I am, **_**Orihime Inoue?**_**" He said it in his best imitation of her voice**.

Everything was silent for about three seconds before **Orihime suddenly doubled over in hysterical laughter. **She fell on the ground and rolled on her side. She clutched her stomach in pain, and was gasping from not being able to catch her breath. She continued this almost—psychopathic laughter until her eyes began to water, then **Ulquiorra began to worry.**

What was wrong with her? All he had done was attempt to make her laugh so she would stop asking about Christmas. And now she was rolling around on the ground like a crazy person on drugs! Should he do something? **Does she need medical help?**

* * *

"**ULQUIORRA!! STOP! PLEASE DON'T I—"** the cry was abruptly cut off.

"Ulquiorra I think **it would be wise to remove your sword from Noitora**." An evil look crossed his face as he pressed the blade of his sword harder against his hostage's throat. "**Or something very **_**unfortunate **_**might befall your precious Orihime."**

Ulquiorra yanked his sword free of Noitora's shoulder, but not before he gave it one more violent twist, then he took a step toward Aizen's second in command.

He came to an abrupt halt when Gin pressed his blade harder and drew a thin line of blood across Orihime's throat, causing a whimper to escape her lips.

"**Release her Ichimaru.** She has done nothing to merit your punishment." The Espada said, barely able to keep the rage from his voice.

Ulquiorra took a step back and was clenching the hilt of his sword with a death grip.

"**That's where your wrong, Ulquiorra. You have brought this upon her yourself**." He paused to let the fourth Espada soak the information in. "When you decided to take judgment into your own hands and attempt to kill poor Noitora, **you made me use your only weakness against you."**

* * *

She took a few moments balance herself then **she raced down the hall**. The crash of a wall shattering echoed through the entire Hueco Mundo and Orihime began to panic even more. **As she ran around a corner she almost slipped and fell in a pool of blood.**

When she look to see where it was coming from **she saw Grimmjaw lying on the ground.** Careful not to trip she went over to him. **He was** **dead**. Orihime's heart ached. He had been one of the few Espada who didn't hate her. Sure he had been rude to her every chance he got but **he never actually hurt her**.

A determined look crossed her face. _**I will bring him back!**_ She placed her hands on his torn chest and concentrated. A glowing topaz globe surrounded him in seconds. _Here I go…I REJECT! …_

* * *

"**Do you want me to call you just Ulquiorra**? I will if you want." She answered chirpily.

_Does nothing affect the girl's attitude? Ever since the day I started spending time with her she has been impossibly chipper._ Ulquiorra wondered.

"**What you call me does not matter because—"** he was cut off by the little redhead.

"**Because, **_**'A name is a name—nothing more'**__ "_ She imitated his voice and answer perfectly from when she had asked him the same question months and months ago.

Ulquiorra stared at her for a moment in slight wonder._**Orihime Inoue you are**__ turning out to be __**the**__**highlight of my dark, depressing days**__._

* * *

"I was killing Noitora because I utterly HATE him and he killed a another Espada, and Grimmjaw just happened to be that Espada… and **Gin said what he said because**…" he ceased walking and **stopped Orihime's fidgeting hands by grabbing them with his own**. "**He said that because you are…you are…precious to me."**

**The Espada stared at her **a moment longer, but when she didn't answer **he dropped her hands and adverted his eyes**. Then he pushed open the door to her room so that she may enter.

**Orihime bit back** **a squeak of protest when he let her hand drop** back to her side and opened the door for her.

She walked into the room, her eyes never leaving his face. Although **no one else would have noticed,** Orihime saw the well-hidden shine of **disappointment in his eyes.**

"**I will return with your food…" then he paused for a moment. "If you wish to dine alone, I will understand..."**

**Before he could leave Orihime ran to him and threw her arms around his shoulders. Out of reflex he caught her in his arms, and for the first time surprise was apparent on his face.**

"**Ori-Orihime?"** was all he could manage to get out before **he felt her hot breath on his neck**.

"**Ulquiorra…" she whispered his name** against his neck.

"**Your precious to me too**…. And **no matter what happens**, I promise **you always will be precious to me**." Orihime pulled back so she could see his face.

"**You're the only reason I haven't lost my mind** in this cold palace. I don't know why, but that morning, when you woke me up from that dream**… I think we became close without even knowing it**." Orihime giggled and smiled at him.

" Ever since then **I've starting thinking less and less of my past** life and **more and more of this life— with **_**you**__…_ **and Grimmjaw even**." Orihime said the last part with a smile and tightened her grip on his neck, then she felt his hesitant arms slid down her back and rest on her waist as he pulled her close. **His emerald gaze never left hers as he stared in utter rapture at the words she spoke.**

"And **I know I can't do much** **but**… **If you **_**ever**_** need me**, even if it's just for company… **I'll be there…** Okay?" **Orihime couldn't believe what she had just done and said. But** **she meant it with all her heart and soul**, and she would do everything in her power to keep her word.

* * *

**Their mouths were mere centimeters apart now and Ulquiorra remembered what the faint touch of her lips had felt like, He remembered how soft her hair had been as it had brushed his cheek, He would never forget how her flowery fragrance had surrounded him when she had leaned into him or the warmth of her body next to his**.

**Ulquiorra desperately wanted to experience it all again**… only this time there would be no interruptions.

Orihime let out a squeak of surprise, that quickly turned to a moan of pleasure as firm lips pressed against hers. **Her hands burrowed in obsidian hair as Ulquiorra caught the door with his foot and slammed it close. The two staggered backward until Orihime was pressed up against the nearest wall.**

**Orihime felt his tongue caress her lips**, begging for entrance, and **she opened them willingly, **instantly she felt his tongue sweet through her mouthmaking her groan another time. _Oh My Gosh he's a good kisser! Hmmmm, I wonder…_

Her warm hands slid from his hair to his face and she traced his tear marks down to his chin, then **she grabbed the zipper on his jacket and pulled it down** until it was completely open then she pushed it down his arms and onto the floor. Immediately **her fingers** **began to caress his toned chest and to her delight, produced a deep groan of satisfaction from his throat.**

Not to be out-done, **Ulquiorra grasped the edges of her shirt and lifted it** until it was below her breasts**. She shuddered in pleasure as long pale fingers stroked her skin.**

_This better than I ever imagined! __**I don't ever want it to stop!**__**…But I should want it to stop… Shouldn't I? **_

* * *

**Ulquiorra what's happening?** Tell me what's wrong!" She said in a panicking voice.

**Glowing, red letters from an ancient language began to appear on his wrists, and neck as if they were being burned into his skin. Ulquiorra's arms were forced behind his back as if he was in chains and the red words became the shackles that bound him. He looked up into her eyes, his face once more an emotionless mask.**

"**Aizen-sama does not tolerate weaknesses."** He said it without any emotion yet Orihime knew exactly what he meant.

* * *

"**I will return when I can**… until then **will you promise me something?"** He asked.

"**Yes, Ulquiorra, anything!** **But what do you mean**, are they going to do something to you, are they taking you somewhere? I don't understand any of this, **why don't you just take these awful things off?"**

**She fell to her knees and began to reach for the shackle around his neck, but right when she came within inches of touching it she felt a sudden increase of power and was blinded as the red words blazed a brilliant scarlet. Instantly Ulquiorra let out a single strangled cry of agony and was doubled over in anguish and torture.**

"**Orihime,** **please promise me that** **you will listen **who ever is assigned to take care of you in my absence. **Don't worry** **about me, and no matter what—do NOT come looking for me."**

**Orihime hesitated…**

"**Promise me Orihime!"**

"…**I promise to do what's right for us."**

* * *

As another piece flew past his head **Grimmjaw stomped over to where she stood next to her bed.** When pulled her arm back to throw another he caught it in mid air. **But what he wasn't expecting was for her other hand to bitch-slap him across the face.**

**He stared in utter shock at the pissed-off woman** in front of him. _Since when was she so violent?_

"**Bring him back y-you—you MONSTER!" she tried to slap him again** **but he caught that hand too.** She viciously lashed out with her leg and tried to knee him in the groin.

* * *

**Very gently Orihime whispered Ulquiorra's name and cupped his face in her hands. When he didn't answer she lifted his face to meet hers. New tears burst forth from Orihime's eyes when she saw his bloodied complexion, and she cradled his head in her arms. **_Why did they do this to you!_** She sobbed to her self.**

"**Why did you let them do this to you…?" she whispered into his hair.**

"**If they hadn't done this to me… they would have hurt you instead… that's why I let them do this." Ulquiorra whispered passed suppressed groans of pain.**

* * *

**Suddenly an opaque Ulquiorra was standing before her. his tear marks were gone along with what was left of his hollow mask and surprisingly he was wearing ordinary material world clothes… the exact some clothes as the man in her dreams…**

**End Flash Backs**

* * *

"Ulquiorraaaa!"

Suddenly Orihime's eyes snapped open and immediately they were met with Ichigo's worried gaze.

"Orihime are you ok? Orihime!" he had a hold of her arms and was shaking her desperately, relief plastered on his face as her eyes met and focused on his.

"I-Ichigo?" she stuttered as she looked around the room at Tessai and Urahara. "What happened? Wh-Where's Ulquiorra?"

Ichigo's gaze hardened and he nodded to the other room. "Rukia, Renji, and Chad are taking care of that sorry bastard. Don't W—"

"They're WHAT?" She shoved him out of her way and stumbled off the table, groggily dodging Urahara's attempt to restrain her as she fumbled into the hallway and right into the next room's open door.

"I must go see her! Can you not hear her screaming for me!? Release me! She needs me Damn you!"

Chad was kneeling beside Ulquiorra trying to restrain his arms with all his strength while Renji was all but sprawled on top of his legs desperately trying to stop his kicking. Rukia had him pinned on his stomach with her knee in his back as she yelled at them to hold him still.

"Stop squirming Dammit! How am I supposed to heal this damn wound with you flailing around?" she smacked him in the head with the hilt of her sword. "Knock it off!"

"I don't need to be healed! It will do it on its own! She's screaming my name now get the fuck off me you idiotic trash!" Suddenly he heaved with every ounce of strength his new body possessed, throwing Renji off onto Rukia who then smashed into Chad, freeing him.

And just as the way was cleared he saw a flash of red and heard a small crash in the room opposite them. Ulquiorra was on his feet immediately and sprinting out the door into the next room.

Orihime lay face down on the floor weak from her concussion and everything else she just relived. He hesitated for a moment not wanting her to look at him like she had before. She started to stir, rolling over onto her back and slowly sitting up to look up at him. Ulquiorra stood perfectly still and could hear his heart beating over the silence in the room as he waited for her fiery hair to slowly slide out of her eyes… and for her chocolate brown eyes to lock onto his…………

**This chapter was just toooooo long with all those flash backs….. wow… and im too lazy to go back and rewrite them all. X.x**

**Have fun with this I guess …Lol**

**I love u ppl ;) PLEASE review!!!**

**~KiKi **

**p.s. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!**


	17. Is this Kokoro?

**OK um i know it's been a while but I SWEAR i thought i'd updated this chapter like three months ago! i must have gotten kicked off the internet before i posted it or something so im SOOOOOOO sorry! T-T please forgive me my dear readers!**

**btw your gonna kill me but.. umm.. i kinda stared a new Ulquihime fanfiction because i got mad about this one and it's spasticness. lol pleeeeease dont kill me! x.o**

**"My Miracle, My Kokoro" thats the name and it feel like it sooooo much more in character and better written so please feel free to read that one while i try and figure out the end to this one. i wasn't going to finish it but i HATE to do that to my readers. :3**

**Disclaimer: None of da character in bleach are mine... but if theyre ever up for sale i have dibs on Ulquiorra and Toshiro! lol**

**Enjoy because this could take a while to sort out an ending! i love you all!**

* * *

**This is what they call... Kokoro?**

Seconds passed as Orihime's eyes focused on the tall figure blocking the light in the doorway. He was tall, had black hair, green eyes… He was Ulquiorra she realized dazedly, and for once he wasn't wearing white…

Ulquiorra's knees went weak as recognition shined in her eyes. This time, her stare was not cold but warm. Suddenly he was kneeling before Orihime and he reached out a slow hand toward her, heedless of the fact that Ichigo and the one called Urahara were watching him intently from behind. Ulquiorra felt an unfamiliar melting sensation in his chest as he heard her soft breath catch in her throat, and watched her chocolate eyes shut just as his fingers skimmed across her soft cheek.

Ulquiorra never would have dreamed to have another soul mean so much to him. As a Hollow and an Espada he had lived and breathed to devour and rise above everything in his way. Even working for Aizen had been a ploy; he had served his creator merely because it put him in a higher position. Ulquiorra would've put on a rainbow wig and changed his name to Bongo the Circus Clown if it got him more power; because, until lately, power had been everything.

Ulquiorra jolted as he felt a sizzling sensation surge up his arm when Orihime's hand entwined with his own, her round eyes pulling him in like no other power he had experienced. She was on her knees too now, mere inches away from him, with a look in her eyes he hadn't seen before. What it meant; He did not know, but he wanted to spend a forever finding out.

Her soft lips were so close, and were quivering with some emotion he couldn't understand yet. He wanted to taste them, but was afraid she might shatter in his arms, and he'd awaken in his cold white room once more, alone. Her hand rose and mimicked his own path along his cheek, sending warmth into places, that he hadn't known existed.

"_Orihime I…"_

Then suddenly her arms were around him and they were hugging each other like never before. Ulquiorra felt her tears on his neck and her quivering got worse but instead of sobbing like any other human would have; Orihime, _His _Orihime, laughed.

"Orihime, how can you laugh? After everything that has happened to you… you don't need to hide your sadness, My Love." He said softly against her hair, as his hand smoothed it down her back reveling in being able to hold her again in his arms.

They clung like that for a time, until she pulled back, a genuine smile on her tear-streaked face as she gripped his shoulders tightly, shaking him with her exuberance at something he didn't see.

"Ulquiorra, don't you see? We're here, _we're alive_! _In_ Kurakara Town, in the world of the living!" she exclaimed in a whisper meant only for him as she searched hopefully in his gaze for understanding. "Don't you see what all this means? We won Ulquiorra! _We_ _made it_."

She brushed a shaggy black strand of hair out of his eye and cupped his face in her hands, thumbs tracing the green tear-streaks down his face as she said it again.

"_We made it Ulquiorra_… _were free now._"  
Ulquiorra shook his head slowly and pulled her hands from his face, looking stern. "Orihime, Aizen will never stop. He will never give in or give up until he has attained his goals. You cannot be so childish as to think were free just because we are not in the Hueco Mundo. You should know better than that by now, after everything he has-"

Ulquiorra abruptly cut off his lecture when he noticed a dark bruise on her throat that was half-obscured by her shirt. Infuriated by the injusry, he whispered a series of dark words under his breath.

"You are hurt!" he hissed it under his breath, angry with himself for not noticing before. She had small scratches on her arm and down her neck. "When did this happen, who did this?"

Immediately he slid the neckline lower to see the extent of her wounds and was greeted with even more scratches.

"Ulquiorra wait stop—" she squeaked in surprise at his reaction and reached to still his hands.

Worry was plain in his eyes as he deftly avoided her grasp and ripped her shirt down the side of her breast to her ribs. Suddenly his instincts sensed an attack from behind and he dove forward on top of Orihime, pressing them both to the floor just as Ichigo dove and missed, toppling completely over them and landing in a heap against the far wall.

"You keep your hands off her you Pervert!" he yelled as he tried to get back on his feet but was restrained by a quick-thinking Rukia as Orihime scrambled to cover herself while blushing like mad.

Before he knew what was happening Ulquiorra felt himself being lifted into the air. When he looked behind, he was met with a dark blank stare.

"You should not touch a lady that way, arrancar." He stated it blankly as Ulquiorra looked at him. He was an unnaturally large boy with dark hair and skin. Summarizing that he must be the one Orihime called Chad, the former Espada didn't bother to try and break free of his grasp. He knew that in his present body he stood no chance. Ulquiorra instead looked at the catastrophe he had inadvertently made and decided he should be quiet.

Orihime clutched her arms around her chest trying her best to hide the rip in her delicate shirt. Her face was blushing like mad as she scurried toward the door trying her best to ignore all the sudden commotion around her. Unexpectedly she felt a large coat surround her and she looked up to see Urahara smiling simply as he wrapped the too-large jacket around her tightly then patted her head.

"That should solve that for now Orihime." He said it then ruffled her hair as he walked passed her toward Ichigo and Rukia.

"Calm down Ichigo!" Kuchiki huffed at him as he continued to freak out.

"Calm down? How can you say that! First he tries to hurt her then he turns around and rips her shirt open! You can't just let him do that to Orihime!" Ichigo tried to push past Rukia but she blocked him again and shoved him back.

"It's obvious something is between them, you _don't_ know everything Ichigo! Let them explain!"

"How can you trust him, Rukia? He's a beast, he's our enemy!"

"I don't trust him!" she a deep breath and gave him a calm look, "but I trust Orihime… and so should you."

"But he—" He was cut off as Urahara's fan came crashing down on his head. "OW! What the hell Urahara? One of these days I'm gonna shove that stupid fan so far up your—!"

_Whack! Whack! Whack!_

"Anything else to say you thick headed fool?" Hat-n-clogs waited patiently for an answer from the dizzy heap on the ground.

"…"

"Good boy. Now, _as I was saying_, Rukia is right," Urahara turned to look at Orihime and winked, " Those two have been through enough in the last few days so let them be. Orihime, Tessai, and myself have other patients to check on, so all of you are going to go home, get a good night's rest, and we'll all meet again tomorrow where we can discuss the issue of how our new _guests_ are going to fit into all this."

Ichigo crossed his arms and looked at Ulquiorra, who was completely ignoring them, and then to Orihime, who was busy trying to get Chad to put Ulquiorra down.

"I think that _he_ should be put in a kedo barrier until we know he's not dangerous." Ichigo said serisously.

Orihime spun around and looked at Ichigo wide-eyed, "What? Ulquiorra won't hurt a fly!" they all gave her a confused look, "well what I mean is that he… he's not our enemy anymore! You just have to believe that, ok?", their expressions looked even more doubtful, "He's kept me alive until now hasn't he? Trust me on this... Please?"

None of their gazes seemed to agree with her own, and Inoue sighed, looking down then her gaze shifted back at Ulquiorra. Her face said everything; _I'm sorry, I don't think they'll listen, but don't worry, you'll stay with me._

At Kisuke's urging, Chad set his prisoner down and slowly released Ulquiorra's arms. The thin, pale, lost-soul merely stood there and locked eyes with each person in the room.

"I don't expect shinigami like yourselves to believe me, but I'm not your enemy…" he paused as if rethinking his statement before adding, "Not unless you make me one."

Then Orihime grabbed his hand and lead him out of the room hastily, saying she going to check on the wounded prisoner arrancar. That left left them all to think about his last statement while Urahara called for Tessai and followed them out the door.

Orihime lead Ulquiorra into a small dark room, flicking on the lights as she went inside. There were three people lying unconscious on the floor; one unkown female and one unkown male and one _Grimmjow_. He was dumb struck at the Shinigami stupidity to keep such a beast in the human shack but he was dirtsacted by the other two. Ulquiorra felt that he knew the other two somehow but couldn't quite remember how. Tentatively he walked around them and sat against the far wall, watching intently as Orihime knelt beside the female first. _Why did they bring Grimmjow?_

The shinigami smoothed back the girl's unusually pink-streaked blonde hair then lifted a couple bandages to see they're progress. With a small smile she placed her hands over the wounds and soon her special orange dome was surrounding it. After a moment she seemed pleased then turned to the male next to her. He had dark hair with slightly pointed ears, and Orihime took one look at his blood soaked bandages before checking for a pulse. She sighed with a little relief and immediately surrounded his entire body with her healing light.

It seemed like hours before Orihime slumped backwards letting her power fade. She checked his pulse again and smiled with relief as she looked at the open doorway.

"Urahara I'm proud to say I think he's gonna make it!" she said happily then stood shakily. Nodding toward Ulquiorra, Inoue motioned in the direction of the door before Urahara could speak. "Come on Ulquiorra, I need to sit down for a bit. Urahara, Grimmjow is already healed and still sadated so I'll see you tomorrow. "

With a slightly dazed look on his face Ulquiorra tore his gaze from the familiar yet strange people on the floor and looked up at Orihime. He stood but suddenly found himself crashing onto his knees clutching at his shoulder in pain as his breath rushed out of his lungs in a silent groan. _Shit, why didn't this wound heal like they always do?_

Ignorant of Orihime's shocked cry of surprise Ulquiorra continued to stare at the ground with slightly widened eyes. He struggled considerably to make his lungs function. _My body... it isn't recovering at all..._ His vision was blurring as he continued to try to stand, confusion stamped plainly on his face as he looked past Orihime toward the odd man with a hat. _What kind of trash did that man put me in?_

Ulquiorra couldn't hear anything Urahara seemed to be saying to the large dark man when everything started to go dark. His vision blackening to the point that all he could see, when he collapsed on the floor, was a faint carroty color hovering above him as he passed into blissful, painless unconsciousness.

"_Ulquiorra, I've got you…Hold on_…"

* * *

Orihime threw Ulquiorra's tattered shirt in the trashcan as she stood to get a drink. She'd managed to talk Rukia into sneaking him out of the shop after dark and after almost an hour he was completely healed. Cool water ran into her cupped hands and she splashed it over her face. Inoue was bone-tired and she intended on heading to bed, only this time she wouldn't be alone.

Mustering up her energy 'Hime ran silently up to her bathroom and snatched her pink nighty off the doorknob. She stripped her clothes off and tugged it over her head with a small groan against her sore muscles before flicking off the lights and turning toward her bedroom. Healing those three had taken alot out of her and she couldn't wait to collapse on her bed next to Ulquiorra and get what sleep she could.

She gave a slight gasp, clutching at her chest in surprise, when she saw the dark figure standing in the doorway. Emerald eyes glinted against the moon's glow as Ulquiorra stepped back into her room; his hand held up, patiently waiting for hers to take it.

Orihime step toward him and their hands clasped together perfectly. He closed his eyes for a moment, as if savoring her touch, before their eyes locked and Ulquiorra tugged her slowly forward into his arms.

His chest ached with an emotion he could only guess to be love, as he slid a finger under Inoue's chin and tipped her head back so that their lips were mere centimeters apart.

Ulquiorra's body clenched with excitement as her warm breath fluttered against his face and he couldn't stand the distance any longer.

_"Orihime…"_

Inoue's heart skipped a beat as Ulquiorra's dark lips suddenly captured hers. He crushed her body against his own as one hand bunched in her long hair, the other wrapped tightly around her waist. Instinctively she wrapped her arms around his neck and moaned sweetly against him as he pushed her back toward the bed, grinding his hips against her. Orihime could feel blush flooding her cheeks as Ulquiorra pressed her onto the bed then stopped to strip off his black slacks.

Her breath caught in her throat as she quickly averted her eyes from his manhood and stared up at his smoothly muscled chest.

_He's huge! He can't possibly fit… wait am I really thinking about doing this? I- I- we're not even married!_

But before Inoue could speak he was on her again. Ulquiorra was everywhere, kissing up her neck, tracing her body with his hands, pressing against her as if she were salvation itself. And God help her, she loved every second of it.

Ulquiorra…

Orihime grinded helplessly against him as his hands drove her wild and Ulquiorra revealed in the ability to please her. Desperate to be skin to skin with her Ulquiorra grabbed her flimsy nightgown and ripped it straight down the middle; tossing it aside as she stared up at him in surprise and threw the covers over herself.

A smirk touched his dark lips as he deftly slid beneath the comforter; and kissed his way up her stomach until his warm mouth was hovering just over her breasts.

"Orihime you never need to hide yourself from me…" Ulquiorra looked up at her, his eyes shimmering with love and amazement as he slowly bent and kissed each one. His tongue swirled over each rosey tip until he heard her breath catch and her face flushed with emotion. With a small smirk he then crushed his lips to hers and he rolled them to the center of the bed.

Inoue's hands knotted in his shaggy hair as their tongues danced together and she fought with herself. _God I know I love him but things are so different now! I'm home and I have my friends again… I have school to worry about! W-What if I get pregnant before I finish my classes? Can I afford all of this right now? But wait, Ulquiorra might have to leave… what if Yamamoto orders to have him killed or if Aizen comes after us! I don't want to lose him and he's the one I want, the __**only**__ one I need… but I... I..._

Orihime felt Ulquiorra's skilled hands skim up her thigh, lingering on her ass, gripping it tightly as his mouth breaks away from hers. She could feel his shaft against her inner thigh, so close to the wetness between her legs that her body was tempted to impale itself on it's thick length even depite her fears. Then, just as Hime was going to voice her doubts, Ulquiorra did something she wasn't expecting.

He suddenly rolled onto his side and took a deep breath; holding before he seemed to calm down. He then kissed her forehead, his lips lingering as he forced his breathing to slow, and made his arm her pillow. Surprise was plain on Orihime's face as Ulquiorra's other arm pulled her against him and his warm breath ruffled her hair as he sighed contently. She could still feel his manhood pressed against her stomach like a warm metal rod sheathed in velvet but after draping his leg possessively over her own; he stilled.

"Ulquiorra?" she said his name, a little confused as he merely laid there, snuggled against her contently.

"Hmm?" as he whispered it his hand began massaging circles on her back and a smirk curved his black lips, "You need sleep Orihime. I am sorry that I've kept you awake with my.. needs.. but I fear that I will never have enough of you; not even in a thousand lifetimes."

Orihime could feel sleep tugging at her mind as Ulquiorra's fingers stroked the soreness out of her shoulders and the beat of his new heart thumped against his chest. Her body was still on fire from Ulquiorra's touch and the heat of his body pressed against hers, but weariness was suddenly clouding everything in her buzzing mind.

"But we have school tomorrow… I think Urahara had a uniform made for you until they decide what…" Inoue whispered it against his chest as he tugged the covers up over shoulders and wrapped her in a warm embrace.

"Shh. Sleep, woman." Ulquiorra watched a smile form on her lips at his commanding yet tender tone then her breath escaped and she was deep asleep in his arms.

The exiled Arrancar continued to watch her for a time then his eyes spotted the full moon outside her window and he was lost in it's shine. Ulquiorra wasn't the same man anymore; he could feel the difference in himself every time he looked at Inoue. Maybe it was only befitting that he start a new life, in a new home although with a not-so-new girl.

_Ivory.. I clung to your memory for so long... then just when i let you go, Orihime comes into my life.. you knew didn't you? You were watching me all this time and i got so lost because i thought i was alone. That's why you sent her to me isn't it? It was to remind me of what i had lost.. you sent her to me and made me remember love.. thank you my love. Thank you._

For the first time since his human life, Ulquiorra closed his eyes and drifted to sleep with the woman he loved in his arms. They were together now and it made him feel alive again.

_And this time __**no one**__ will steal you away… Orihime… _

* * *

_**HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY... um if you didn't read the top then you should totally do that now. ;3**_

**_If you loved this story then should read my other Ulquihime "My Miracle, My Kokoro" Its even better than this one in my opinion! ;D_**

**I love you all! Please REVIEW! I'll extra-love you if you do! :D**

**~Kiki/MiMi**


	18. Fight Club or not

**Sorry for the long wait! Thank you so much to the fan who had the curtesy to remind me that people were waiting! (Onlynameleft)**

**I promise to try harder now but i'm only human... **

**Enjoy! PLEASE REVIEW! :]**

* * *

Streaks of sunlight filtered through the blinds of Orihime's room; temporarily blinding her before she could turn her head into the pillow. Her groan of displeasure was cut short as she realized what exactly it was she laid upon.

_Ulquiorra…_

His lashes were crescents, dark as sin, against his pale skin. He looked so peaceful, so warm and alive that she found herself brushing a stray lock of hair away from his face. His chest rose and fell steadily; his dark lips parted just-barely, while sunlight fell across his features. He looked amazing, dark and beautiful but at the same time his hair was splayed out around him chaotically making him seem wild and unpredictable.

How had she ever loved another?

Very carefully she untangled herself from his arms. It wasn't as easy as it sounds; his hands seemed to drag at her every attempt to slip away. She sucked on her bottom lip, making her final attempt to escape and finally succeeded but sadly the nightstand wasn't on her side in this struggle and her ankle impaled itself against the corner.

"Ouch!" Inoue squealed clamping hands over her mouth as Ulquiorra stirred.

A low groan escaped his lips as he stretched, reminding her of a big jungle cat as he yawned and plopped on his side almost instantly asleep. Inoue's breath flew from her lips in relief and she picked herself up quickly scurrying to the bathroom.

Steam floated from the shower when she turned it on and Orihime cast a look toward the mirror; seeing herself for the first time since the battle. Fruity orange hair, ugly brown eyes and she refused to look at her body knowing it would be pudgy and undeserving. How Ulquiorra could see anything beautiful in her, she did not know.

Ulquiorra stared at himself in the full length mirror. He had just awoke and found his uniform folded up on the chair by the window and he may be wrong, granted he didn't know much about human culture, but this couldn't possibly be right. The green neck line dove down almost past his pectoral muscles in a 'V' shape tying into some sort of tie-knot-thing. Not only that, it also fit overly-snug over his hips and the pants… weren't pants at all.

Back in his time men had worn skirts of chain mail and other plaited armor for battle but he was almost completely sure that respectable male humans would never wear such a short bright-green skirt in public! What kind of school was Orihime going to that they would make the school uniforms so female orientated! He couldn't possibly wear this thing all day… it was tight in all the wrong places…

_I must take this thing off quickly before anyone sees me in such trash!_

Orihime chose that exact moment to walk in, "Ulquiorra are you awake yet? I just found the uniform Urahara left for—"

She stopped, frozen mid-step, as she tried to swallow the scene before her without falling into a mess of laughter on the floor. There stood Ulquiorra; the great and mighty warrior of _Death,_ and the** Master** of all-things-doomy! …in a skirt.

Ever so casually he looked over his shoulder at her, one hand on his hip where he had started to try and yank the shirt off, but said nothing. The silence lasted forever, turning Orihime's face red with the effort it took to hold in her laughter but he continued to just look at her blankly, as if this was a completely normal occurrence for him. There was no way she could win a staring contest with him so she just gave up.

"I see you've, uh, made yourself at home, Ulquiorra, but um well…" She giggled and put her other hand against her lips as she held out his school uniform, "T-This is your uniform and thaaat one is—"

The moment she held it out, Ulquiorra snatched it from her grasp and walked resolutely past her; fighting back the urge to smack himself in the head.

"Yes, yes I know- this one is yours, laugh it up now because we will never speak of this again! Never!" and with that Ulquiorra closed the bathroom door and proceeded to tear himself out of that damned clothing.

_This never would have happened if we lived in my world…_

* * *

"Ok so here are some things you should know about school." Orihime said as she locked the door and placed the key in her bag, "Rule number one, calling the Teacher names is not allowed!"

Ulquiorra gave her a sidelong accusing stare, "What makes you think I would call this Teacher of yours names?"

"No reason really… just remember that when she tells you 'No' or says your wrong about something."

"What do you mean tell me—"

"Number two! Fighting is completely out of the question." She held up her finger, and waggled it at him as if to say- not in my house young man!

"That _rule_ is completely out of the question! How am I suppose to assert my rank in the new social order if I can't—"

"Woah, woah, woah! You don't get friends by beating people up and certainly not by asserting your whats-it-called over them. Haven't you ever learned to play nice?"

"Being nice makes your enemies think your weak, _nice_ gets people killed." Ulquiorra's brow had a deep furrow of confusion; the human's version of life training must be very different than that of the one he had attended in Hueco Mundo…

"Ulquiorra you're so silly. School isn't like that so just don't ok? Please?" cheeks flushed with laughter, Orihime looked at him hopefully and slid her hand into the crook of his arm, tugging him around the corner; toward the school.

It was a great building of gray stone and cold steel, the only relief; windows dotted across its surface. It looked like an overall depressing place to Ulquiorra; he didn't understand how she could be excited about a place such as this. Yet even after the thought rose he allowed himself to be pulled up its steps and down the hall. Finally she stopped them in front a gray sliding door; he could hear the hum of talking from inside.

Warm fingers touched his cheek, tenderly tracing the dark streak there before knudgeing his chin so that he was looking at her, not the door. While her eyes swirled with emotion, a shy but pure smile touched Inoue's lips; the sight of her before him made Ulquiorra feel like he couldn't breathe.

"Ulquiorra you don't have to fight anymore," Her hand slid down his neck to rest on his chest, "relax for once, we're safe here… let _me_ take care of _you _now."

He couldn't take it any longer, she was too beautiful, to perfect, he had to taste her lips or he might explode on the spot. Her hand clutched at his shirt the second their lips met. Lightning seemed to crackle between them as he stepped closer, covering her small hand with his own, pressing it closer to his chest as his tongue swirled with hers. He wanted more, needed more, his arm snaked around her hips and tugged her up against him, a squeak of surprise escaping her lips before she melted against him…

"Haha yeah right, I'll be back in a minute guys, Orihime should be—" Suddenly the door was jerked open by a smiling slim girl with short dark hair.

"Ori— Hey! What the _hell _do you think your doing!" Fire sparked in the girl's eyes as and she took a threatening step forward.

Inoue's eyes snapped open and she jumped away from Ulquiorra, well she tried to anyway, but his arm and hand held her firmly in place as if by reflex. His emerald eyes were half closed as if awakening from a dream and Orihime could still feel where his lips had crushed against hers only moment before. Tearing her eyes away from him, Inoue looked to her best friend, Tatsuki. Her face was twisted with fury, that petite hand clenched tightly in a fist, and cocked back ready to fly.

"Tatsuki wait no!" But it was too late, all she could do was look at Ulquiorra's resolute gaze, and beg, as it crashed against his perfect face.

Ulquiorra could have dodged the blow, he could have caught her hand and crushed it to pieces, he could have done both at the same time and had it been any other time he would have done so instinctually. Inoue knew this as he let her go and crashed against the glass across the hall, his eyes never left hers even when the window splintered and he slid to his knees. Blood trickled from where his head met the glass but he just glanced at her from the corner of his eye before they closed and he grabbed the window pane to 'struggle' to his feet and stare at Tatsuki with a bored expression.

Tatsuki cracked her knuckles and advanced bent on beating the crap out of him but Orihime was faster and cut her off before she could take two steps.

"Tatsuki, that's enough!" She looked at her friend determinedly as Ichigo, Rukia, Chad, and Uryu suddenly appeared in the doorway, confused.

"Ulquiorra is your friend now, he's the one that…" she noticed the even more of a crowd was growing, "H-he brought me home and is my guest so you guys need to get along now…"

Tatsuki looked from Orihime to Ulquiorra. The protectiveness in her voice and the way his eyes were roaming over her; like he owned her. There was definitely more going on here than what she said. Without a word she turned and shoved everyone back inside the room, slammed the door closed and jammed the prop underneath it.

"Orihime and Ulquiorra aren't feeling good. I'm taking them to the nurse, got it?" She said it like a pissed of mama bear, and with that she grabbed Inoue's hand and dragged her off down the hall.

"I want the real story, Orihime, and I want it the **second** we're alone."

_Home sweet home..._

* * *

**Once again- I'm so sorry!**

**PLEASE REVIEW! **

**It reminds me your there! lol**

**4*****~Mimi**


End file.
